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AMERICAN  COLLEGE 

AND 

UNIVERSITY    SERIES 


AMERICAN   COLLEGE   AND 
UNIVERSITY   SERIES 


General  Editor  :  GEORGE  PHILIP  KRAPP 

Profeesor  of  English  in  Columbia  University 


COLUMBIA      by  Frederick  Paul  Keppel 
PRINCETON    by  Varncm  Lansing  Collins 
HARVARD       by  John  Hays  Garoinbr 
VASSAR  by  James  Monroe  Taylor  and 

Elizabeth  Hazelton  Haight 


IN  PREPARATION 


WISCONSIN    by  J.  F.  A.  Pyre 

YALE  by  George  H.  Nkttleton 

Other  volumes  to  foUov^. 

Historical,  descriptrve,  and  critical  accounts  of  the  more 
important  American  Colleges  and  Universities. 

Cloth,  8vo.    Gilt  top,  decorated  cover.    Illustrated. 
Per  copy  $1.50  net, 

OXFORD  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

AMERICAN  BRANCH  :  35  West  32nd  Street 

NEW  YORK  CITY 


The  Library 


ILLINOIS 


BY 
ALLAN  NEVINS 


NEW  YORK 
OXFORD  UNIVERSITY  PRESS 

AMERICAN  BRANCH:  S5  West  82nd  Stbkbt 

LONDON,  TORONTO.  MELBOURNE.  AND  BOMBAY 

1917 


85890 


Copyright,  1917 
BY  Oxford  Univeksity  Pbess 

AMERICAN  BRANCH 


1 

^  PREFACE 

^         The  fact  that  this  volume  constitutes  the  first  history 
of  the  University  of  Illinois  ever  written  has  largely 
~^     determined  its  character  and  scope.     It  seemed  neces- 
^     sary  to  the  writer  to  throw  a  much  greater  emphasis 
v^^     upon  the  record  of  the  past  than  upon  the  tendencies 
^"^      or  characteristics  of  the  present.    Even  in  the  four  final 
!^\^    chapters,  nominally  not  historical  at  all,  will  be  found 
much  historical  matter.    The  detailed  steps  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  institution  are  known  to  so  few  of  the 
graduates  or  faculty,  not  to  speak  of  outsiders,  that  a 
i       comprehensive  account  of  them  is  the  first  requisite  of 
^  .    any  introduction  to  the  inner  spirit  of  the  rapidly- 
'^     growing  University.    Moreover,  these  are  years  in  which 
the  institution  is  rapidly  losing  the  men  who  as  teachers 
and  students  have  personal  recollection  of  its  first  years, 
^    and  it  seemed  a  duty  to  attempt,  while  it  was  still  possi- 
^    ble,  to  interweave  with  facts  from  written  sources  those 
>^    which  come  authentically  from  unwritten.    Of  the  short- 
\    comings  of  the  book  the  writer  is  aware.    It  is  an  unf  or- 
^1^  tunate  fact  that  till  a  short  time  ago  the  University, 
'^    with  the  carelessness  of  youth,   made  no  attempt  to 
preserve  historical  materials  relating  to  itself.     There 
are  many  phases  of  its  record  upon  which  it  has  been 
hard  to  accumulate  information.     Upon  some  of  the 
most  important  questions"  the  oral  testimony  has  been 
found  to  be  conflicting,  while  upon  others  some  de- 
tailed   oral   testimony   available    has    been    shown    so 
unreliable  that  it  has  had  to  be  thrown  aside  in  favor 


vi  PREFACE 

of  shorter  but  more  accurate  information.  The  writer 
has  had  to  work  nearly  a  thousand  miles  from  the  Uni- 
versity, and  to  depend  upon  the  courtesy  of  correspond- 
ents for  much  that  one  on  the  spot  would  easily  have 
obtained.  But  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  volume  will 
inspire  further  labor  in  the  same  field.  To  a  number 
of  friends  who  have  offered  assistance,  and  especially 
to  President  James,  Deans  Clark,  Greene,  Kinley,  and 
Davenport,  Mr.  George  Huff,  Mr.  P.  L.  Windsor,  Drs. 
Powell  and  Phelps,  Professors  Forbes,  Talbot,  Rolfe, 
Ricker,  Alvord,  Zeitlin,  White,  and  Scott,  to  three  former 
Trustees,  Judge  Cunningham,  Mr.  S.  A.  BuUard,  and 
Mr.  F.  M.  McKay,  to  a  number  of  graduates,  as  Mr. 
H.  M.  Dunlap,  Mr.  C.  A.  Kiler,  and  Mr.  W.  A.  Heath, 
and  to  the  editor  of  this  series,  the  author  wishes  to 
acknowledge  his  indebtedness.  Professors  Baker  and 
Stock  have,  with  many  of  those  named  above,  read  parts 
of  the  proofs ;  Dr.  Phelps  has  furnished  much  material  for 
the  appendices,  and  Assistant  Dean  Warnock,  Mr.  H.  H. 
Horner,  Miss  L.  0.  White,  and  Mr.  Lewis  Omer  have 
transmitted  other  material.  The  author  has  not,  partly  in 
deference  to  practice  in  other  volumes  in  the  series, 
partly  from  his  sense  of  the  needlessness  of  it,  bur- 
dened his  pages  with  many  footnote  references  to  sources. 
In  many  instances  the  text  itself  indicates  that  the 
source  lies  in  the  reports  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  the 
University  catalogues,  or  the  reports  to  the  State  Super- 
intendent of  Public  Instruction.  The  files  of  the 
Alumni  Quarterly,  of  the  Illini  and  other  student 
publications,  those  of  Twin  City  and  Chicago  news- 
papers, and  the  Journals  of  the  Legislature,  have  also 
been  drawn  upon.  It  would  usually  be  undesirable  to 
indicate  oral  sources  of  material. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTBB  PAQK 

Preface    v 

I.    Turner  and  the  Founding  op  the  Uni- 
versity          1 

II.    Beginnings  op  the  University  ...      42 

III.  Years  op  Depression:  the  Administra- 

tion OP  Peabody 99 

IV.  At  the  Turning  Point        ....    141 
V.    The  University  Finds  Itselp     .       .       .     153 

VI.    The  University  After  It  Found  Itself  .  210 
VII.    Administration    and    Housing    op    the 

University 262 

VIII.    Students  and  Student  Life       .       .       .  295 
IX.    Relations  Between  the  University  and 

State 323 

X.    Conclusion 347 

Appendix  : 

A.  Growth  of  University  by  Years    .     359 

B.  Buildings— 1868-1916       .       .       .360 

C.  Summary  of  Degrees,  1915  and  1916    362 

D.  Growth  op  Agricultural  College 

and  Experiment  Station    .       .     363 

E.  Entrance     Eequirements,     1904- 

1916 363 

F.  Typical  Opinions  op  ** Rural"  in 

THE  Chicago  "Tribune,"  1867- 
1869 364 

G.  Salaries 365 

H.    Enrollment  in  College  op  Engi- 
neering     366 

Index 367 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 
The  Library Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

Eegent  John  Milton  Gregory 44 

The  Original  Building        .       .       .       .       .        .  56 

Law  Building  and  University  Hall    ....  72 

Natural  History  Building    ......  112 

President  Andrew  Sloan  Draper      ....  154 

The  Agricultural  Building 176 

President  Edmund  J.  James 210 

Front  of  Woman's  Building 258 

The  Auditorium 284 

Maypole  Revelers 306 

Main  Entrance  to  Lincoln  Hall        ....  340 


The  rise  of  these  great  universities  is  the  most  epoch- 
making  feature  of  our  American  civilization,  and  they 
are  to  hecome  more  and  more  the  leaders  and  makers  of 
our  civilization.  They  are  of  the  people.  When  a  State 
university  has  gained  solid  ground,  it  means  that  the 
people  of  a  whole  State  have  turned  their  faces  toward 
the  light. 

President  H.  S.  Pritchett  on  the  State  University. 


TURNER  AND  THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY 

Belated  Nature  of  the  Movement  for  a  State  University  in 
Illinois.  Mismanagement  of  the  State's  Educational  Funds. 
Jonathan  Baldwin  Turner  and  the  Movement  for  Industrial  Educa- 
tion. The  Granville  and  Other  Conventions.  Lincoln  and  the 
Passage  of  the  Morrill  Act.  Struggle  over  the  Location  of  the 
University.     C.  R.  Griggs  and  the  Choice  of  Urbana. 

The  University  of  Illinois,  as  a  State  University,  is 
in  large  degree  representative  of  the  social  character, 
the  work,  the  culture,  and  the  ambitions  of  the  State. 
But  it  must  be  understood  that  as  a  representative  of 
the  commonwealth,  believed  in  and  supported  by  it,  its 
history  is  short,  dating  only  from  about  1890.  The 
general  record  of  the  University  falls  into  four  distinct 
parts.  Through  the  efforts  of  Jonathan  B.  Turner  and 
others  in  the  fifties  and  sixties,  it  was  brought  into 
being  in  1867  as  an  embodiment  of ,the_  mo vement  for 
industrial  and  agricultural  education.  Under  its  first 
two  heads,  John  Milton  Gregory  and  S.  H.  Peabody,  it 
somehow  found  its  feet  and  maintained  its  place  against 
financial  difficulties,  legislative  neglect,  the  hostility  of 
some  interests  and  the  contempt  of  others,  but  without 
achieving  real  character  as  a  University.  About  1890 
it  began  to  receive  stronger  State  support,  to  attract 
a  larger  registration,  and  to  widen  its  scope,  the  energy 
and  administrative  ability  of  Andrew  Sloan  Draper 
carrying  it  steadily  forward  from  1894  until  a  decade 


2       THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

later.  Under  President  Edmund  J.  James  since  then 
the  ground  won  has  been  consolidated,  new  growth 
achieved,  something  approaching  symmetry  given  an 
unshapely  aggregation  of  colleges  and  schools,  and  the 
spirit  of  a  real  center  of  learning  infused  into  it. 

The  fact  that  the  University  was  not  incorporated 
until  1867  speaks  plainly  the  want  of  interest  in  public 
higher  education  that  was  to  handicap  its  growth  for 
so  many  years.  Illinois  was  the  last  State  of  the  North- 
west Territory,  and  one  of  the  last  in  the  Middle  West, 
to  found  a  State  University. 

Virtually  all  of  the  public  collegiate  education  west 
of  the  Alleghenies  traces  its  origin  to  the  Ordinance  of 
1787,  the  inspiration  of  which  should  have  been  as 
effective  in  Illinois  as  in  other  States.  The  Ordinance 
provided  that  ''religion,  morality,  and  knowledge  being 
necessary  to  good  government  and  the  happiness  of 
mankind,"  throughout  the  Territory  "schools  and  the 
means  of  education  shall  forever  be  encouraged";  and 
one  of  the  ways  in  which  Congress  translated  this 
generality  into  concrete  terms  was  by  placing  in  the 
deed  for  the  tract  sold  to  the  Ohio  Company  a  stipula- 
tion that  two  townships  should  be  reserved  for  the  sup- 
port of  "a  literary  institution,  to  be  applied  for  the 
intended  purpose  by  the  Legislature  of  the  State."  This 
step  set  so  powerful  a  precedent  that  after  the  year 
1800  each  State  admitted  into  the  Union,  with  the  ex- 
ceptions of  Maine,  Texas,  and  West  Virginia,  received 
two  or  more  townships  for  a  University.  By  the  close 
of  1802  the  American  Western  University,  later  Ohio 
University,  had  been  chartered  and  located  at  Athens, 
Ohio.  In  1820  the  Legislature  of  Indiana  founded 
Indiana  Seminary,  later  Indiana  University,  at  Bloom- 
ington.     Michigan's  Territorial  Legislature  established 


STATE  TARDINESS  3 

in  1817  the  Catholepestemiad,  or  University  of  Michi- 
gania,  which  in  1821  was  rechristened  the  University  of 
Michigan — though  it  was  not  till  1837  that  the  Uni- 
versity as  we  know  it  was  founded.  Even  the  immature 
neighbors  of  Illinois  took  precedence  of  her.  The  Uni- 
versity of  Missouri  was  established  in  1839,  that  of  Iowa 
and  that  of  Wisconsin  before  1850 ;  while  in  1851  Minne- 
sota petitioned  Congress  for  land  to  endow  a  University 
at  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony.  In  Illinois  it  required  the 
union  of  a  powerful  new  movement  with  the  old  impulse 
expressed  in  the  Congressional  grant  of  **  college  town- 
ships" to  bring  the  University  into  being. 

Yet  since  her  admission  in  1818  Illinois  had  had  even 
greater  opportunities  than  most  of  her  sister  common- 
wealths to  found  a  State  institution  of  higher  learning. 
The  Federal  Government  had  given  her  not  only  the 
customary  two  townships  but  one-half  per  cent,  of  all 
the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  Government  lands  in  Illinois 
after  1818,  with  the  special  stipulation  that  this  was 
to  be  "exclusively  bestowed  upon  a  coUege  or  uni- 
versity." Ordinarily  Congress  gave  five  per  cent,  of 
such  proceeds  for  road-building,  but  in  the  case  of 
Illinois  it  was  thought  best  to  divide  this  percentage 
among  the  roads,  the  common  schools,  and  the  Uni- 
versity. The  Government  was  generous,  too,  in  its  ar- 
rangements for  the  location  of  the  two  townships.  The 
first,  granted  in  1804,  was  found  to  be  marshy,  and 
permission  was  later  given  to  relocate  it  in  detached 
tracts  of  small  area,  to  insure  the  selection  of  good 
land.  The  second,  granted  in  1818,  was  to  be  located 
in  the  same  manner.  A  progressive  and  public-minded 
legislature  might  early  have  founded  a  University  in 
Illinois;  instead,  the  Legislature  was  consistently  per- 
verse and  at  times  dishonest. 


4       THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

Though  abuse  of  the  Federal  funds  for  higher  educa- 
tion was  common,  no  fund  in  the  Northwest  was  so 
abused  as  that  of  Illinois.  Other  States  sold  their  town- 
ships at  low  prices,  and  some  hurried  their  sales  in 
order  to  afford  an  immediate  income  to  the  State  College 
or  University.  Illinois  alone  sacrificed  her  lands  thirty 
years  before  the  State  institution  was  created,  and 
then  systematically  made  away  with  the  proceeds. 
Other  States,  after  using  the  Federal  funds  to  establish 
a  State  University,  failed  to  appropriate  a  dollar  for 
its  support  for  decades.  Illinois  alone  antagonized 
the  interests  of  higher  education  by  using  for  other 
purposes  even  the  moneys  that  Congress  had  said 
were  to  be  *' exclusively  bestowed"  upon  the  Uni- 
versity. 

In  this  course  the  State  was  prompted  by  financial 
troubles  caused  by  grave  reverses  immediately  follow- 
ing its  admission.  The  State  Bank  established  in  1821, 
after  a  briefly  disastrous  course,  and  after  issuing  a 
flood  of  paper  money,  had  failed.  In  one  decade,  at 
a  period  when  $30,000  was  the  normal  annual  expense 
of  government,  the  State  lost  $400,000,  while  a  heavy 
burden  of  debt  was  thrown  directly  on  the  people.  By 
1830  taxation  had  become  so  unpopular  that  the  Legis- 
lature knew  that  any  increases  in  it  would  meet  with 
quick  and  angry  opposition;  and  thus  for  reasons  pri- 
marily political  the  party  in  power  turned,  among  other 
expedients,  to  the  misappropriation  of  the  lands  and 
money  for  higher  education. 

In  the  method  of  this  misappropriation  the  politicians 
were  both  blundering  and  cunning.  By  laws  of  1829 
and  1831  the  two  Congressional  townships  were  author- 
ized to  be  sold  at  auction,  each  at  one  time  and  place, 
for  a  minimum  price  of  $1.25  an  acre;   and  if  not 


LEGISLATIVE  ERRORS  5 

fully  disposed  of  at  the  advertised  auctions,  the  remain- 
ing land  could  be  purchased  at  any  time  thereafter  at 
this  minimum  figure.  Naturally,  there  was  no  demand 
for  so  much  as  thirty-six  square  miles  at  once,  and  all 
but  three  sections  remained  to  be  purchased  after  the 
auctions — at  $1.25  an  acre.  It  was  inexcusable  to  fix 
as  the  price  for  these  picked  farming  lands  the  lowest 
rate  at  which  any  public  lands  could  then  be  bought  in 
America.  As  for  the  cunning,  the  laws  authorizing  the 
sales  of  the  townships  contained  a  clause  appointing 
four  State  Commissioners  to  take  charge  of  the  pro- 
ceeds^ and  invest  them  in  "stocks  and  funds."  To 
these  proceeds  were  added  the  "college  fund,"  as  the 
accumulations  from  the  half  per  cent,  of  the  sales  of 
Government  lands,  granted  the  State  for  a  University, 
were  called;  and  by  a  separate  act  the  Governor  was 
authorized  to  borrow  the  whole,  at  six  per  cent,  annu- 
ally, the  interest  to  be  added  to  the  principal  until  the 
funds  were  needed  for  the  founding  of  the  University. 
Thus  was  devised  a  method  of  borrowing  money  without 
any  immediate  payment  of  interest.  It  is  easy  to  see 
why  the  Legislature,  for  six  years  at  this  period  of 
acute  financial  embarrassment,  was  loath  to  disturb  the 

'■  To  distinguish  it  from  the  "  college  fund,"  the  money  obtained 
from  the  sale  of  the  two  townships  was  called  the  "  seminary 
fund."  Representative  Nathaniel  Pope,  the  Congressman  respon- 
sible for  the  inclusion  within  Illinois  of  the  present  northern 
part  of  the  State,  was  responsible  also  for  the  commutation  of 
part  of  the  ordinary  grant  for  roads  and  canals  to  one  for 
schools  and  a  college.  See  Frank  W.  Blackmar's  "History  of 
Federal  and  State  Aid  to  Higher  Education  in  the  United 
States,"  Chapters  II  and  VI;  "Early  Education  in  Illinois,"  by 
W.  L.  Pillsbury,  in  Public  School  Report,  1885-86,  p.  civ;  "  Hia 
torical  Sketches  of  the  State  Normal  University  and  the  Univer- 
sity of  Illinois,"  by  the  same  author,  Public  School  Report, 
1887-88,  pp.  Ixxvii  and  cxvii;  and  for  the  later  pages  see  also 
"Historical  Sketch  of  McKendree  College,"  by  M.  H.  Chamber- 
lin  in  Publication  No.  9  of  the  Illinois  State  Historical  Library, 
p.  328. 


6       THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

arrangement  and  bring  down  the  whole  obligation,  with 
its  regularly  mounting  increment,  upon  the  people,  and 
ready  to  frown  upon  the  slightest  movement  towards 
a  University. 

In  1835  it  was  provided  that  the  annual  interest, 
instead  of  being  added  to  the  principal,  should  be 
''loaned"  to  the  school  fund  for  distribution  among 
the  counties;  and  here  was  a  renewed  barrier  to  the 
establishment  of  a  University.  The  counties  knew  well 
that  there  was  little  probability  that  this  ''loan"  would 
ever  be  repaid.  They  were  getting  six  per  cent,  yearly 
of  the  funds,  and  they  needed  it,  for  the  lands  set  aside 
for  the  common  schools  had  been  wastefully  adminis- 
tered by  the  State.  Thus  prejudiced  against  a  State 
institution,  indeed,  it  was  not  until  just  before  the 
Civil  War  that  they  relinquished  their  grasp  on  this 
income.  In  1857  the  Legislature  consented  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  Normal  University  at  Bloomington,  and 
thereafter  practically  all  the  interest  on  the  funds  was 
appropriated  to  it.  The  "college  fund"  amounted  to 
about  $120,000 ;  the  sum  from  the  sale  of  the  townships 
to  about  $60,000.  The  interest  for  the  twenty-two  years 
on  the  latter  amount  was  never  repaid,  but  part  of 
that  on  the  former  was  devoted  to  the  erection  of  the 
Normal  University  buildings,  and  the  remainder  added 
to  the  principal  in  1882,  another  Normal  School  having 
meanwhile  come  to  share  in  the  income  from  the  fund. 
None  of  the  money  has  ever  gone  to  the  University  of 
Illinois. 

During  the  period  from  1830  to  1850  only  scattering 
and  futile  attempts  were  made  to  recover  for  a  Uni- 
versity this  double  fund,  and  the  impression  gained 
ground  that  a  final  dissipation  of  it  was  not  only  legiti- 
mate but  advisable.    In  1833  a  bill  was  offered  locating 


JEALOUSY  OF  A  STATE  UNIVERSITY        7 

at  Springfield  an  institution  for  the  education  of  youths 
"in  the  English,  learned,  and  foreign  languages,  the 
useful  sciences  and  literature,"  a  board  of  ten  Trustees 
being  named  in  the  bill.  But  besides  the  consideration 
just  named,  a  number  of  jealousies  conspired  to  defeat 
it.  Springfield  was  then  an  aspirant  for  the  location  of 
the  State  House,  and  Vandalia,  scenting  in  the  measure 
an  advantage  for  her  rival,  was  at  once  roused  to  oppo- 
sition. Three  sectarian  colleges,  McKendree,  founded  by 
the  Methodists;  Shurtleff,  by  the  Baptists;  and  Knox, 
by  the  Presbyterians,  were  just  then  struggling  into 
being,  not  yet  having  been  incorporated,  and  their 
friends  regarded  with  alarm  any  plan  for  a  State-aided 
University.  The  bill  was  first  preposterously  amended 
to  establish  four  colleges,  to  be  called  Washington,  La- 
Fayette,  Franklin,  and  Jefferson,  and  then  killed.  Next 
year  Gov.  Joseph  Duncan  again  recommended  the 
establishment  of  a  State  University,  but  was  disre- 
garded. There  is  evidence  that  a  few  men,  inspired  by 
the  example  of  other  States,  hoped  for  a  single  strong 
institution,  but  their  ideas  never  took  root. 

Instead,  the  most  marked  impression  was  made  by 
those  who  held  that  the  funds  should  be  used  for  bet- 
tering normal  and  secondary  education,  while  the  heads 
of  sectarian  colleges  gained  wide  support  for  their  selfish 
determination  that  if  the  money  were  used  for  higher 
instruction  it  should  be  divided  among  them.  In  1834 
an  educational  convention  urged  the  use  of  the  funds 
in  establishing  "county  seminaries  ...  in  which  those 
who,  unable  to  obtain  a  collegiate  education,  ambitious 
of  more  than  primary  instruction,  could  attain  an  envia- 
ble height  in  literary  and  scientific  attainments. ' '  Dur- 
ing the  next  two  years  two  successive  measures  to  this 
general  end,  both  stating  that  such  provision  was  needed 


8       THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

to  insure  "means  for  the  qualification  of  teachers  for 
the  common  schools, ' '  failed.  But  in  1840  the  movement 
for  normal  school  education  received  a  great  impetus 
through  John  S.  Wright,  founder  in  Chicago  of  the 
Union  Agriculturist,  who  borrowed  from  the  East  the 
arguments  which  Charles  Brooks  and  Horace  Mann 
were  then  employing.  He  urged  upon  the  Legislature 
the  establishment  at  Springfield  of  a  Normal  School  and 
Teachers'  Seminary  with  the  college  and  seminary 
funds,  and  in  1846  the  Senate  instructed  the  committee 
on  education  to  inquire  into  the  matter.  Three  years 
later  the  State  Education  Society  indorsed  the  project, 
and  in  1851  the  State  Superintendent  advocated  it. 
Finally,  in  the  latter  year  a  bill  was  introduced  com- 
bining in  one  anomalous  measure  the  ambitions  of  the 
normal  school  men  and  the  sectarian  colleges,  for  it 
proposed  to  organize  from  the  Governor,  Secretary  of 
State,  and  college  presidents  a  board  of  "Regents  of 
the  University  of  the  State  of  Illinois,"  which  should 
distribute  the  fund  among  colleges  complying  with  cer- 
tain conditions  as  to  equipment  and  endowment,  and 
maintaining  a  professorship  of  normal  education,  and 
which  should  grant  degrees.  It  passed  the  Senate,  but 
failed  in  the  House.  The  advocates  of  the  use  of  the 
funds  for  normal  schools  went  on,  as  we  have  seen,  to 
ultimate  triumph,  while  the  jealousies  of  the  denomina- 
tional colleges  persisted  to  plague  the  University  after 
it  was  finally  established. 

Undoubtedly  the  State  was  a  direct  loser  because  the 
University  was  not  established  before  1850,  though  the 
beginnings  of  similar  institutions  founded  early  were 
checkered.  Thus  the  University  of  Michigan  consisted 
till  1837  of  but  one  classical  academy  at  Detroit;  and 
though  it  became  strong  and  renowned  before  the  Civil 


NEIGHBORING  STATE  UNIVERSITIES       9 

War,  it  received  no  State  aid  till  1867.  The  institution 
which  became  Indiana  University  received  no  State  help 
till  the  same  year.  The  lands  belonging  to  the  Uni- 
versity of  Wisconsin  were  grossly  mismanaged,  and  the 
people  long  ignorantly  jealous  of  it  as  maintained  for 
a  few  **  aristocratic "  young  men.  Three  separate  re- 
organizations were  attempted,  and  not  until  the  last  one, 
in  1866,  was  the  University  fairly  on  its  feet.  The 
Regents  of  Minnesota  had  no  sooner  erected  their  first 
building  than  they  were  forced  to  mortgage  it,  and 
under  the  panic  of  1857  and  the  war  their  attempts  to 
open  the  University  were  futile  till  1869.  Missouri  not 
only  failed  to  grant  a  cent  to  her  University  till  1867, 
but  wasted  for  it  a  magnificent  Federal  grant.  Even 
Ohio  University  received  no  direct  appropriation  till 
after  the  Civil  War,  while  the  lands  of  Miami  were  so 
mismanaged  that  it,  after  a  depressing  struggle,  closed 
its  doors  in  1873.  The  West  before  the  Civil  War  took, 
on  the  whole,  a  pride  in  pretentious,  struggling,  and 
sometimes  worthless  institutions  that  had  better  gone 
to  the  fostering  of  interest  in  the  public  schools.  But 
a  State  University  would  have  been  of  value  to  Illinois 
had  it  trained  but  a  handful  of  men ;  and  in  those  early 
years  it  might  have  dissipated  enough  of  the  inevitable 
prejudice  and  hostility  and  gained  enough  general 
regard  to  start  even  with  Michigan  and  Wisconsin  in  the 
race  they  were  to  run. 

Had  public  education  been  held  at  as  high  a  level  as 
in  Michigan,  had  there  been  a  considerable  body  of 
Illinoisans  as  keenly  concerned  with  intellectual  better- 
ment as  were  the  ministers  of  Ohio  who  befriended 
the  early  State  institutions,  or  the  first  Regents 
of  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  or  the  Trustees 
named  for  Indiana  Seminary  by  Gov.  Jennings,  the 


<£... 


10     JHE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

obstacles  presented  by  the  Legislature's  financial  shifti- 
ness might  have  been  overcome.  Why  was  there  no 
public  interest  to  attempt  to  force  compliance  with  the 
requirements  of  the  Federal  Government  as  to  its  land 
grants  ?  It  is  true  that  the  State  was  narrow  in  dealing 
with  all  forms  of  education.  The  Constitution  of  1818 
did  not,  like  those  of  many  States,  assert  the  propriety 
of  encouraging  colleges  and  seminaries,  nor  did  any 
down  to  1870  recognize  the  establishment  of  schools  as 
a  proper  public  function.^  For  years  the  State, 
with  its  rural  apprehension  of  religious  instruction  and 
of  large  corporations,  strengthened  by  the  Dartmouth 
College  case,  granted  no  charters  without  narrow  re- 
strictions. No  professor  of  theology  was  to  occupy  any 
college  chair,  no  theological  department  of  any  sort  was 
to  be  created,  no  religious  tests  were  to  be  countenanced 
in  selecting  trustees,  no  college  was  to  hold  more  than 
one  square  mile  in  perpetuity.  Not  until  1841  were  the 
severest  of  these  restrictions  abolished.  But  these  were 
prejudices  not  confined  to  Illinois;  and  her  indifference 
to  the  best  interests  of  education  was  not  different  in 
kind,  but  greater  in  degree  than  that  of  neighboring 
States  at  the  same  time. 

In  a  letter  of  excuse  in  1829  to  the  Acting  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  who  had  protested  against  the  way  in 
which  Illinois  was  borrowing  the  college  fund,  Gov. 
-Niiiian  Edwards  referred  the  non-existence  of  a  regular 
system  of  education  to  the  State's  "very  sparse  and 
greatly  dispersed  population."  From  its  great  length, 
its  greater  area,  the  fact  that  nearly  all  portions  were 
equally  desirable,  its  population  did  not  have  the  organ- 
ized character  of  that  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  and  lower 
Michigan.  Edwards  repeatedly  expressed  his  feeling 
*  F.  N.  Thorpe,  Constitutions  and  Charters,  Vol.  II,  Illinois. 


REASONS  FOR  DELAY  11 

that  it  was  "too  early"  for  a  central  State  institution 
of  higher  education.^  In  truth,  the  population  did  not 
increase  rapidly  till  after  1830,  then  leaping  by  1840 
from  157,000  to  476,000,  and  by  1850  to  851,000.  And 
the  early  population  was  not  merely  dispersed,  but 
wanting  in  homogeneity.  From  the  early  days  of  state- 
hood people  poured  in  by  the  Great  Lakes  on  the  north, 
the  Ohio  on  the  south;  and  containing  many  diverse 
elements,  the  State  split  most  definitely  into  camps 
representing  northern  and  southern  blood.  In  1822-25 
there  was  a  sharp  contest  between  slavery  and  anti- 
slavery  forces  which  left  a  lasting  mark ;  and  Gov.  Ford 
testified  to  the  *  *  elements  of  discord  in  the  population, ' ' 
with  the  consequent  injury  to  "the  adoption  of  the 
wisest  means  for  the  public  relief."  At  the  same  time, 
he  complained  of  the  want  of  pride  in  the  State  and  its 
institutions.  "Illinois  can  be  abused  anywhere  with 
impunity.  I  hope  yet  to  live  to  see  the  day  in  Illinois, 
as  in  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  South  Carolina,  New  York, 
and  New  England,  that  no  oneJ  will  be  suffered  to  abuse 
the  State."  2 

Again,  Illinois  suffered  more  than  any  of  her  neigh- 
bors, much  more  than  any  except  Indiana  and  Missouri, 
from  financial  reverses.  We  have  noted  the  failure  of 
the  first  State  Bank.  In  1839  the  State's  blundering 
internal  improvement  system  was  overturned,  work  upon 
most  projects  stopped,  and  a  debt  of  over  $10,000,000 
left  for  improvements  largely  abandoned.  In  the  spring 
of  1842  the  second  State  Bank  burst  with  a  crash,  doing 
great  injury  to  the  holders  of  its  $3,000,000  of  paper 
money.     Gov.  Ford  states  that  when  he  came  to  office 

*  N.  W.  Edward's  "  History  of  Illinois  and  Life  and  Times  of 
Ninian  Edwards,"  p.  238  et  seg. 

*  Thomas  Ford's  "  History  of  Illinois,"  Chapters  III  and  IX. 


12      THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

ill  1842,  ''the  State  was  in  debt  about  $14,000,000  for 
moneys  wasted  upon  internal  improvements  and  in 
banking;  the  domestic  treasury  of  the  State  was  in 
arrears  about  $313,000  for  the  ordinary  expenses  of 
government;  auditors'  warrants  were  freely  selling  at 
a  discount  of  fifty  per  cent.;  the  people  were  unable  to 
pay  even  moderate  taxes  to  replenish  the  treasury" — 
or  thought  they  were.  "We  have  noted  the  jealousies 
existing  between  the  various  cities.  A  powerful  reason, 
finally,  was  that  by  1840  Illinois  had  developed  several 
flourishing  small  colleges,  the  success  of  which  seemed 
to  leave  little  place  for  a  University  of  the  tradi- 
tional educational  standards.  Shurtleff,  McKendree, 
Knox,  and  Illinois  were  by  this  time  vigorous,  the 
latter  two  were  centers  of  anti-slavery  sentiment  and 
common-school  reform,  and  at  Illinois  in  particular 
a  number  of  State  leaders  were  in  training — Yates, 
Newton  Bateman,  Lincoln's  partner  Herndon,  and 
others. 

The  final  steps  for  the  establishment  of  the  University 
grew  out  of  the  much  larger  movement  for  the  measure 
-HOW  known  as  the  Morrill  Land  Grant  Act.  A  laggard 
herself  in  founding  a  State  University,  Illinois  led  the 
way  in  securing  the  Federal  provision  which  has  under- 
lain the  stability  and  prosperity  of  the  institutions  of 
her  sister  States.  The  definite  movement  for  a  Federal 
land  grant  for  the  support  of  agricultural  and  mechan- 
ical institutes  in  every  State  originated  not  with  Ver- 
mont, as  is  commonly  believed,  but  with  Illinois,  and 
was  headed  not  by  Justin  Morrill  but  by  Jonathan  B. 
Turner.  This  movement  had  predecessors  embracing 
certain  of  its  aims ;  it  was  but  part  of  a  wide  and  gen- 
erally vague  educational  impulse  for  the  benefit  of  the 


TURNER'S  EARLY  YEARS  13 

industrial  classes.  But  in  the  definite  form  it  assumed 
in  Illinois  it  was  clearly  responsible  for  the  ultimate 
passage  of  the  Land  Grant  Act. 

Its  leader  came  from  the  zealous  group  of  Eastern 
men  at  Illinois  College.  Jonathan  Turner  was  born  on 
a  stony  Massachusetts  farm,  of  poor  parentage,  and  edu- 
cated at  Yale,  mainly  by  money  earned  at  "working  in 
gardens  and  sawing  wood."  In  1833  he  went  out  to 
the  three-year-old  college  then  housed  in  one  brick  build- 
ing a  mile  west  of  Jacksonville,  a  village  of  less  than 
one  thousand  people,  and  here  he  remained  for  fifteen 
years,  with  the  title  of  Professor  of  English  Literature 
and  Rhetoric,  but  actually  teaching  much  besides.^  He 
was  an  even  more  indefatigable  advocate  of  free  public 
schools  than  President  Beecher,  His  first  summer  vaca- 
tion, for  example,  was  spent  in  traveling  through  a  half 
dozen  counties  on  horseback  at  his  own  expense,  deliver- 
ing addresses  in  their  advocacy  wherever  he  could 
muster  an  audience.  Hardships  were  frequent,  and  he 
once  lay  senseless  on  the  prairie  half  a  day  after  a 
heavy  fall  from  his  mount.  He  had  studied  the  classics 
at  Yale,  but  early  tastes  and  the  necessities  of  Western 
life  gave  him  a  strong  predilection  for  the  practical. 
"Agriculture"  and  "some  branches  of  mechanics"  had 
been  named  by  the  founders  of  Illinois  College  as  "part 
of  the  system  of  education  whereby  the  health  of  the 
students  will  be  promoted,  and  their  expense  dimin- 
ished," and  the  college  had  opened  with  a  farm  of  a 
quarter-section,  implements,  and  a  carpenter's  shop. 
From  this  he  doubtless  drew  material  for  his  first  ideas 

*  "  Life  of  Jonathan  Baldwin  Turner,"  by  Mary  Turner  Carriel, 
pp.  12flf.  Illinois  College  was  founded  by  a  group  of  Yale  men, 
among  them  Jonathan's  brother  Asa,  who  in  1827  formod  an 
association  to  promote  "  religion  and  learning  "  in  the  West.  The 
faculty  in  1833  consisted  of  five  Yale  men,  all  under  thirty. 


14     THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

upon  the  mingling  of  practice  and  theory  in  industrial 
education;  but  for  some  years  he  was  preoccupied  with 
the  problem  of  the  elementary  schools.  In  1837  he  was 
again  lecturing,  in  1845  he  was  a  prominent  member  of 
the  Education  Society's  Convention  at  Jacksonville,  and 
he  corresponded  with  Eastern  educators,  among  them 
Henry  Tappan,  later  president  of  Michigan,  upon  the 
subject.^ 

It  was  very  soon  after  his  retirement  from  Illinois 
College  that  Turner's  beliefs  as  to  higher  industrial 
training  found  clear-cut  expression.  In  1837  he  had 
spoken  of  democracy's  duty  *'to  augment  the  facilities, 
the  resources,  and  the  completion  of  knowledge  until  a 
royal  road  shall  be  paved  from  the  threshold  of  every 
cabin  ...  to  the  open  doors  ...  of  our  most  mag- 
nificent temples  of  science."  Upon  this  his  intense, 
austere  mind  brooded  until  he  felt  impelled  to  a  plan 
of  action.  In  1847  he  had  resigned  his  professorship 
to  become  a  farmer  and  fruit-grower.^  In  1848  we  find 
him  communicating  with  President  Blanchard  of  Knox 
College  upon  the  endowment  and  filling  of  a  possible 
chair  of  agriculture;  and  May  13,  1850,  taking  charge 
at  Griggsville,  in  the  Pike  County  John  Hay  was  soon 
to  make  famous,  of  one  of  the  first  Teachers'  Institutes, 

*  The  extent  to  which  Jackgonville  was  a  center  in  educational 
movements  may  be  gaged  from  the  fact  that  in  1833  was  formed 
there  a  "  Ladies  Association  for  Educating  Females,"  and  in 
1834  an  "Association  to  Advance  the  Course  of  the  Common 
Schools,"  which,  having  announced  that  spring  its  intention  of 
sending  out  an  agent,  may  have  been  largely  responsible  for 
Turner's  tour.  The  various  teachers  spoke  constantly  in  the 
thirties  on  education;  and  in  Jacksonville  in  1836  was  organized 
the  Illinois  Teachers'  Association.  See  Pillsbury  ut  supra, 
and  the  files  of  the  Sangamo  Journal. 

'  Prof.  Turner  was  the  first  man  to  see  the  usefulness  of  the 
osage  orange  as  a  hedge-plant,  and  to  introduce  it  to  the  country 
at  large.  He  long  grew  at  Jacksonville  a  greater  variety  of  trees 
than  could  be  found  in  the  Smithsonian  Gardens. 


TURNER'S  CAMPAIGN  15 

he  made  his  first  notable  appeal  for  an  advanced  educa- 
tion for  farmers  and  mechanics. 

This  appeal,  a  presidential  address,  was  entitled  ''A 
Plan  for  a  State  University  for  the  Industrial  Classes, ' ' 
and  centered  around  the  thesis  that  the  workers  need  a 
"system  of  liberal  education  for  their  own  class,  and 
adapted  to  their  own  pursuits;  to  create  for  them  an 
industrial  literature,  adapted  to  their  professional 
wants;  to  raise  up  for  them  teachers  and  lecturers  for 
subordinate  institutes."  With  a  harsh  criticism  of  the 
older  learned  institutions,  ''which  make  men  of  books, 
not  men  of  work,"  he  joined  a  project  for  an  institution 
with  a  complete  equipment  in  physics,  chemistry,  and 
industry,  with  experimental  farm  and  orchards,  and 
with  a  museum  of  models  of  all  useful  implements  and 
machines.  This  should  offer  instruction  in  all  the 
sciences  and  arts,  including  commerce,  mining,  trans- 
portation, economics,  government,  and  not  excluding  the 
classics,  should  prosecute  constant  investigations,  en- 
courage lower  institutes  and  schools,  and  cooperate  with 
the  Smithsonian  Institution  in  Washington,  then  just 
incorporated,  which  Turner  strangely  viewed  as  an  in- 
strument of  popular  education.  Horticulturists  and 
entomologists  should  be  "ever  abroad  at  the  proper  sea- 
sons" to  find  remedies  for  blights,  rusts,  and  mildews, 
and  the  chemists  should  "carefully  analyze  the  various 
soils  and  products  of  the  State. ' '  The  University  should 
be  open  to  all  classes  of  students  of  proper  age,  and  they 
might  study  for  a  few  months  or  for  years.  For  its 
support  he  would  set  aside  the  college  and  seminary 
funds  for  which  the  sectarian  colleges  and  supporters  of 
normal  education  were  quarreling.  The  teachers  and 
citizens  at  Griggsville  offered  the  scheme,  Turner  tells 
us,  "warm,  earnest,  and  decided  support,"  and  the  rural 


16      THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

press,  eager  to  divert  the  funds  to  agricultural  educa- 
tion, gave  it  much  notice.^ 

The  most  immediate  result  of  the  address  was  to 
move  the  Buel  Institute,  a  central  Illinois  association 
of  farmers,  to  call  a  meeting  for  November,  1851,  "to 
take  into  consideration  .  .  .  measures  ...  to  further 
the  interests  of  the  agricultural  community,  and  par- 
ticularly to  take  steps  towards  the  establishment  of  an 
Agricultural  University."  The  Buel  Institute,  organ- 
ized by  Benjamin  Lundy,  numbered  many  progressive 
citizens,  among  them  two  brothers  of  the  poet  Bryant, 
and  was  addressed  by  men  of  national  note — Love  joy, 
John  M.  Palmer,  Lyman  Trumbull,  and  others.  The 
meeting  was  liberally  advertised,  especially  at  the 
county  fairs  which  preceded  it. 

Here  Turner  received  his  first  large  hearing.  He 
was  made  chairman  of  a  committee  which  presented  a 
resolution  "that  we  take  immediate  measures  for  the 
establishment  of  a  University  in  the  State  of  Illinois, 
expressly  to  meet  those  felt  wants  of  each  and  aU  the 
industrial  classes  of  our  State,  and  that  we  recommend 
the  foundation  of  high  schools,  lyceums,  and  institutes 
in  each  of  the  counties  on  similar  principles."  Turner 
then  proceeded  "in  an  able  and  interesting  manner  to 
unfold  his  plan  for  the  establishment  and  maintenance 

*Paul  Selby  states  ("The  Part  of  Illinoisans  in  the  National 
Educational  Movement,"  1851-1862,  Publication  No.  9  of  the 
Historical  Library  of  Illinois,  p.  214)  that  at  the  Teachers' 
Institute  Prof.  Turner  merely  "  suggested  a  plan  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  State  University,"  and  that  his  plan  for  a  national 
system  of  education  was  broached  a  few  weeks  later,  in  an  inde- 
pendent address  at  Griggsville.  The  above  account  follows  Mrs. 
Carriel.  It  also  follows  Mrs.  Carriel  in  treating  as  identical,  or 
substantially  so,  the  plan  which  Prof.  Turner  unfolded  at 
Griggsville  and  that  which  he  presented  to  the  Granville  Conven- 
tion eighteen  months  later.  The  quotations  are  from  the  latter 
paper,  the  only  one  preserved,  which  she  asserts  to  be  a  copy  of 
the  former. 


NATIONAL  AID  DEMANDED  17 

of  an  Industrial  University,"  this  plan  being  almost 
identical  with  that  he  had  explained  at  Griggsville.  Not 
only  were  the  resolutions  adopted,  but  the  convention 
requested  Turner  to  furnish  the  plan  for  publication  in 
the  Prairie  Farmer  and  in  a  pamphlet  of  which  1,000 
copies  should  be  distributed,  instructed  the  members  to 
do  all  they  could  to  promote  reading  of  the  pamphlet, 
and  petitioned  the  Governor  and  Legislature  to  move 
towards  the  establishment  of  the  institution.  Before 
adjournment  steps  were  taken  to  obtain  lecturers 
and  hold  ''primary  assemblies"  to  influence  the  Legis- 
lature. 

Thus  far  the  plan  referred  only  to  Illinois  and  was 
little  more  than  a  movement  among  the  farmers  to  obtain 
for  themselves,  as  opposed  to  the  sectarian  colleges,  the 
Federal  funds.  But  Turner  already  had  visions  for 
converting  it  into  a  national  stirring  of  the  industrial 
workers,  which  would  result  in  the  planting  of  a  national 
chain  of  his  universities.  In  February,  1852,  he  suggested 
that  the  Buel  Institute  petition  Congress  for  help.  In 
June  a  second  convention  of  his  supporters  was  held  at 
Springfield,  which,  attended  by  representatives  of  the 
colleges,  was  marked  by  hot  dissensions,  but  which 
adopted  a  memorial  to  the  Legislature  clearly  intended 
to  make  the  movement  national.  It  desired  that  a 
beginning  should  be  made  in  higher  industrial  educa- 
tion, and,  it  recited,  ''if  possible  on  a  sufficiently  ex- 
tensive scale  to  Jionorahly  justify  a  successful  appeal  to 
Congress,  in  conjunction  with  eminent  citizens  and 
statesmen  in  other  States,  who  have  expressed  their 
readiness  to  cooperate  with  us,  for  an  appropriation  of 
public  lands  for  each  State  in  the  Union  for  the  appro- 
priate endowment  of  universities  for  the  liberal  educa- 
tion of  the  industrial  classes,''    This  convention  also 


18      THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

emphasized  the  desirability  of  a  normal  department  in 
the  University. 

A  few  months  later  a  third  convention,  in  Chicago, 
took  still  further  steps.  It  resolved  "that  this  conven- 
tion memorialize  Congress  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining 
a  grant  of  public  lands  to  establish  and  endow  universi- 
ties in  every  State  in  the  Union  ' ' ;  and  to  promote 
various  ends  an  ''Industrial  League  of  Illinois"  was 
formed,  with  Turner  as  director.  In  January,  1853,  a 
fourth  convention  was  held  at  Springfield,  and  the 
Legislature  was  urged  to  present  a  memorial  to  Con- 
gress praying  it  to  appropriate  to  each  State  not  less 
than  $500,000  worth  of  land  for  these  universities.  The 
next  month  the  League  was  chartered,  and  promptly 
began  to  scatter  circulars  and  a  pamphlet  containing 
Turner 's  address  and  memorials,  and  to  correspond  with 
those  interested  in  industrial  education.  The  national 
movement  was  well  launched.^ 

That  Turner's  plans  found  a  ready  response  in  many 
parts  of  the  United  States  is  not  strange.  Theories  of 
an  advanced  education  differing  from  that  of  the  tradi- 
tional academy  and  college  had  found  embodiment  long 
before  in  polytechnic  schools  and  manual  labor  classes. 

*  It  is  difficult  to  exaggerate  the  intensity  of  the  opposition 
Prof.  Turner  had  to  meet  in  Illinois.  As  a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Trustees  of  the  Hospital  for  the  Insane  during  its  construction 
at  Jacksonville  a  few  years  previous  he  had  thwarted  the  plana 
of  a  few  "  political  speculators  "  to  make  money  out  of  it  and  its 
offices;  and  this  clique,  through  the  Springfield,  Jacksonville,  and 
Chicago  papers,  visited  upon  him  unsparing  ridicule  and  abuse. 
One  of  the  editors  of  the  Morgan  County  Journal  was  attacked 
with  knife  and  cane  for  defending  him;  and  during  Prof.  Turner's 
absence  in  the  interests  of  his  educational  plans  his  barn  was 
burnt  down,  with  a  loss  of  about  $4,000.  The  heads  of  the  sec- 
tarian colleges  were  far  above  such  methods,  but  they  treated 
Prof.  Turner  with  narrowness  and  bigotry,  arguing  that  all  at- 
tempts at  higher  State  education  were  doomed  to  failure,  and  that 
they  tended  to  the  negation  of  religion.    Turner  MSS. 


EARLY  INDUSTRIAL  SCHOOLS  19 

As  early  as  1820  the  Maine  Wesleyan  Seminary  had 
experimented  in  joining  practical  work  with  formal  in- 
struction, principally  with  a  view  to  lightening  the  ex- 
penses of  the  students.  Rensselaer  Polytechnic  Institute 
had  been  founded  in  1824;  the  Oneida  Institute  of 
Science  and  Industry  in  New  York  in  1827,  and  others 
soon  after.  Oberlin  College  was  opened  in  1833  as  a 
manual  labor  school,  and  for  the  first  twenty  years  a 
majority  of  its  graduates  supported  themselves  while 
in  college.  Certain  Western  normal  schools  had  before 
1840  offered  industrial  courses,  including  farm  training ; 
and  besides  Illinois,  other  colleges  in  Turner's  own  State 
had  industrial  departments.  Thus  the  Knox  Manual 
Labor  College  was  established  in  1838  at  Knoxville — 
later  to  become  plain  Knox  College.^  McKendree  Col- 
lege had  established  a  manual  training  shop  in  1836. 
And  in  the  early  fifties  proposals  for  the  higher  educa- 
tion of  farmer,  mechanic,  and  business  man  on  a  large 
scale,  combining  provisions  drawn  from  European  insti- 
tutions and  the  polytechnic  schools  with  certain  thor- 
oughly democratic  plans  for  the  cheapening  of  educa- 
tion, had  spontaneously  sprung  into  life  all  over  the 
country. 

Typical  evidence  of  this  is  found  in  the  agitation 
which  had  for  some  time  been  gathering  force  enough 
in  New  York  to  create  the  so-called  People's  College. 
This  institution  was  backed  from  the  beginning  by 
Horace  Greeley,  was  chartered  in  April,  1853,  and  its 
cornerstone  laid  in  1858,  at  Havana,  New  York,  President 
Amos  Brown,  Greeley,  and  Mark  Hopkins  speaking.  Its 
course  was  liberal,  but  in  part  vocational,  enabling  grad- 

*  It  was  the  New  York  minister,  Gale,  who  founded  the  Oneida 
Institute,  who  also  established  Knox  College  at  the  "  Mesopo* 
tamia  in  the  West"  which  later  took  his  name. 


20      THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

uates  "to  enter  at"  once  upon  the  business  of  their 
choice,"  and  it  was  to  elevate  labor  by  requiring  farm 
or  shop  work  on  given  days  in  the  week;  while  it  was 
to  admit  any  adult  to  any  course.  Greeley  asserted  the 
founders'  purpose  to  effect  "a  perfect  combination  of 
study  with  labor. ' '  He  quoted  Hazlitt  on  the  ignorance 
of  the  learned,  and  ventured  a  description  of  the  new 
meaning  it  was  necessary  to  give  learning :  ' '  The  farmer, 
mechanic,  manufacturer,  engineer,  miner,  needs  to  un- 
derstand thoroughly  the  materials  he  employs  and 
molds,  and  the  laws  which  govern  their  various  states 
and  transformations.  A  thorough  mastery  of  geology, 
chemistry,  and  the  related  sciences,  with  their  applica- 
tions, is  today  the  essential  basis  of  fitness  to  lead  or 
direct  in  any  department  of  industry.  This  knowledge 
we  need  seminaries  to  impart — seminaries  which  shall 
be  devoted  mainly  ...  to  natural  science,  and  which 
shall  not  require  of  their  pupils  the  devotion  of  their 
time  and  mental  energies  to  the  dead  languages. ' '  Other 
speakers  dwelt  on  the  plan  for  a  few  hours  remunerative 
and  instructive  labor  daily.  Thus  Turner  had  spoken, 
and  several  others,  all  drawing  their  beliefs  from  the 
common  educational  currents  of  the  time. 

In  Massachusetts,  for  example,  industrial  education 
was  advocated  by  the  head  of  Amherst  in  1851,  and  in 
the  same  year  Edward  Everett,  Marshall  P.  Wilder, 
Henry  W.  Cushman,  and  others  signed  a  memorial  by 
the  Board  of  Agriculture  asking  for  the  establishment  of 
an  agricultural  college.  In  1852  the  Legislature  passed 
resolutions  favoring  the  appropriation  of  public  lands 
to  endow  a  national  Normal  Agricultural  College,  on 
the  plan  of  West  Point,  but  to  train  teachers  of  rural 
science.  The  New  York  Horticulturist  had  for  some 
time   been   urging   "education   among   the   Industrial 


FEDERAL  LAND  GRANTS  21 

Classes/'  and  an  agricultural  college,  with  a  school  in 
the  mechanic  arts  added,  had  been  recommended  in  New 
York  by  Gov.  Fish  in  1849  and  1850,  and  by  Gov.  Hunt 
in  the  two  succeeding  years,  as  well  as  by  a  special  com- 
mission appointed  in  1849.  In  Congress  the  subject  of 
industrial  education  found  several  exponents.  Thus  in 
April,  1852,  Representative  Eben  Newton  had  called 
attention  to  the  sixty  agricultural  schools  and  colleges 
in  Russia,  the  five  colleges  in  France,  the  two  in 
Scotland,  the  two  in  Italy,  the  thirty-five  colleges  and 
schools  in  Bavaria,  and  the  thirty-two  each  in  Prussia 
and  Austria,  all  government-supported,  and  asked  why 
there  was  no  similar  provision  in  America.  Two  months 
later  Representative  Horsford,  remarking  that  "about 
five  millions  of  our  population  are  owners  of  the  soil, 
and  three  times  that  number  are  engaged  in  its  cultiva- 
tion ;  yet  the  Government  has  failed  ...  to  provide  the 
means  of  instruction  and  encouragement  which  .  .  .  this 
great  interest  requires,"  suggested  the  desirability  of 
one  or  many  agricultural  West  Points. 

The  proposal  for  the  appropriation  of  public  land  for 
higher  education  in  each  State  was  also  calculated  to 
strike  a  responsive  chord.  The  older  States  had  not 
watched  the  Federal  endowment  of  Western  school  sys- 
tems without  jealousy.  In  the  debates  of  1803  on  Ohio 's 
admission,  one  Pennsylvanian  objected  to  land  grants 
for  one  section,  holding  that  the  public  lands  were 
common  property.  In  1818-19  a  futile  effort  was  made 
in  Congress  to  grant  each  State  not  over  100,000  acres 
for  a  University.  It  was  later  renewed,  and  in  1821 
nine  of  the  older  States  memorialized  Congress  for  edu- 
cational land  grants.  In  the  following  decade  education 
and  internal  improvements  were  linked  in  the  public 
mind,  and  repeated  efforts  were  made  to  have  the  public 


22      THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

lands  used  as  a  permanent  fund  for  these  twin  purposes. 
In  spite  of  the  force  of  the  position  of  States  like  Massa- 
chusetts, that  the  lands  were  Government  and  not 
common  State  property,  and  that  they  were  not  gifts 
to  the  State  in  which  they  lay,  but  simply  a  reservation 
of  part  of  the  State's  natural  wealth  for  a  distinct  pur- 
pose, the  notion  that  each  might  get  a  new  grant  per- 
sisted. Soon  after  1850  we  find  Michigan  and  New  York 
Representatives  introducing  bills  for  public  land  grants 
to  these  States  for  education. 

The  merit  of  Turner's  plan  lay  not  in  any  entire 
originality,  but  in  the  combination  of  unoriginal  parts 
into  a  new,  appealing,  and  highly  practicable  whole. 
Most  projects  for  industrial  education  were  inchoate, 
and  all  were  local;  Turner's  at  once  took  its  place  in 
the  foreground  because  of  its  definiteness,  force,  and 
national  scope. 

Even  before  it  had  begun  to  be  pushed  by  the  Indus- 
trial League,  the  plan  had  claimed  attention  outside 
Illinois.  Turner's  address  to  the  Granville  Convention 
had  been  reproduced  in  the  year  book  of  the  Illinois 
State  Board  of  Agriculture  in  1851,  and  in  the  United 
States  Patent  Office  Report  for  the  same  year.  It  had 
been  published  by  the  New  York  Horticulturist,  with 
warm  commendation,  in  July,  1852.  The  New  York 
Tribune  printed  it  two  months  later,  Greeley  speaking 
heartily  of  the  movement  as  analogous  to  that  for  the 
People 's  College,  and  commending  the  vigor  of  Turner 's 
utterance.  The  Philadelphia  North  American  also  pub- 
lished an  editorial  praising  it,  and  the  Soutliern  Culti- 
vator declared  that  **the  plan  of  Prof.  Turner  is  full  of 
valuable  practical  suggestions,  and  the  memorial  which 
accompanies  it  .  .  .  [that  of  the  second  convention] 
should  be  forced  upon  the  attention  of  the  General  Gov- 


THE  MOVEMENT  PROGRESSES  23 

ernment. ' '  On  the  same  day  that  the  League  was  char- 
tered the  Legislature  adopted  resolutions  requesting  the 
State's  Representatives,  and  instructing  its  Senators  "to 
use  their  best  exertions  to  procure  the  passage  of  a  law 
in  Congress"  granting  a  liberal  land  endowment  for  a 
system  of  State  industrial  universities ;  while  it  author- 
ized the  Governor  to  communicate  with  other  State  ex- 
ecutives, and  to  have  copies  of  the  resolutions  sent  to 
other  Legislatures.  Here  was  a  move  to  attract  wide 
interest,  and  the  New  York  Tribune  remarked,  after 
commenting  on  the  novelty  of  the  land  grant  plan : 

The  Legislature  of  Illinois  has  taken  a  noble  step 
forward,  in  a  most  liberal  and  patriotic  spirit,  for 
which  its  members  will  be  heartily  thanked  by  thousands 
throughout  the  Union.  We  feel  that  this  step  has  ma- 
terially hastened  the  coming  of  scientific  and  practical 
education  for  all  who  desire  and  are  willing  to  work 
for  it.  And  Congress  has  already  been  touched, 
through  the  efforts  of  the  Illinois  Industrial  League. 
Mr.  Washburne  has  been  complimented,  in  connection 
with  his  State,  for  the  action  taken,  and  other  State 
Legislatures  are  imitating  our  good  example. 

The  Industrial  League  immediately  published  a  pam- 
phlet, called  "Industrial  Universities  for  the  People," 
giving  the  whole  history  of  the  movement  and  its  docu- 
ments, with  a  hortatory  introduction  by  Turner.  "With 
what  unexpected  velocity,"  he  rejoiced,  "the  darkness 
has  sped  away  before  the  light  in  one  short  year!  " 
Turner  himself  began  lecturing  and  commissioning  lec- 
turers, and  we  learn  from  his  correspondence  that  five 
men  were  ready  in  1853  to  speak  for  the  plan  and  in 
opposition  to  any  division  of  the  educational  funds,  for 
$500,  without  expenses,  and  at  some  risk  of  non- 
payment; one  lecturer  was  very  active.    As  director  of 


24      THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

the  League  the  farmer-professor  wrote  constantly  all 
over  the  country.^ 

Despite  the  instructions  given  Illinois  Congressmen, 
the  introduction  at  Washington  of  any  measure  em- 
bodying Turner's  views  was  a  difficult  matter.  The 
subject  of  agricultural  education  had  been  kept  alive  in 
the  debates  on  the  proposed  Agricultural  Bureau. 
There  were  still  advocates  of  a  single  national  agricul- 
tural college,  as  Caleb  Lyon,  who  in  1854  was  attempting 
to  obtain  support  for  a  measure  for  the  establishment 
of  one  "somewhat  after  the  plan  of  the  Georgians  in 
France."  But  Turner's  far-sighted  scheme  for  a  land 
grant  to  each  of  the  States  went  against  the  convictions 
of  most  of  the  men  in  authority  at  the  time.  President 
Pierce  had  let  it  be  understood  that  he  was  opposed  to 
any  such  measure.  In  1854  he  had  vetoed  one  embody- 
ing Dorothea  Dix's  idea  for  the  provision  of  such  Fed- 
eral assistance  to  State  hospitals  for  the  insane.  Repre- 
sentative Richard  Yates  was  friendly  to  the  plan,  having 
been  interested  in  all  Turner's  speeches  since  that  at 
Granville,  for  which  he  had  sent  at  once;  but  he  felt 
that  nothing  could  be  done  with  it  under  Pierce.    On 

*  In  February,  1853,  Turner  writes  that  he  had  called  upon 
Gov.  Matteson  in  regard  to  his  scheme;  that  he  had  written  to 
Messrs.  Yates,  Seward,  Giddings,  Shields,  and  Douglas,  to  Gov. 
Seymour  of  New  York,  to  Gov.  Wright  of  Indiana,  to  the  Patent 
Office  and  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  and  to  many  agricultural, 
mechanical,  and  general  papers  and  associations;  and  that  "year 
in  and  year  out  we  shall  make  appeals  to  the  people  and  to  the 
Assembly  in  their  [the  farmers'  and  mechanics']  behalf."  One 
Rutherford  was  a  popular  lecturer,  and  he  was  followed  by  agents 
in  every  locality,  who  persuaded  men  to  join  the  League  and  sub- 
scribe to  its  funds.  One  of  the  chief  mass  meetings  held 
occurred  in  Chicago,  January  25,  1854,  under  call  of  the  Council 
and  Mayor  and  of  the  Mechanics'  Institute,  and  after  a  speech  by 
Prof.  Turner,  resolutions  in  support  of  the  objects  of  the  Indus- 
trial League  were  adopted.  Similar  meetings  were  held  all  over 
the  State.    Turner  MSS. 


MORRILL  BILL  INTRODUCED  25 

March  20,  1854,  Representative  Washburne  and  Senator 
Shields  presented  the  resolutions  of  the  Legislature 
"relative  to  the  establishment  of  Industrial  Universi- 
ties" to  both  branches  of  Congress  at  once.  Three  weeks 
later  Yates  asked  Turner  to  draw  up  such  a  bill  as  he 
wanted,  suggesting  at  the  same  time  that  it  would  be 
politic  to  omit  the  proposed  clause  for  a  connection 
between  the  universities  and  the  Smithsonian  Institu- 
tion. This  was  done,  but  Yates  took  no  action  with  the 
measure;  and  he  was  not  reelected  the  following 
autumn.^ 

Out  of  these  delays  and  false  starts  was  finally  shaped 
the  Morrill  bill,  which  was  introduced  December  14, 
1857.  Buchanan  came  into  office  this  year,  and  it  was 
thought  that  under  him  there  was  a  better  opening, 
though  a  prejudice  growing  out  of  the  too-lavish  land 
grants  of  the  early  fifties  persisted.  In  early  October 
Turner  wrote  to  Senator  Lyman  Trumbull,  of  Illinois, 
urging  him  to  take  up  the  measure.  The  latter  agreed 
that  "the  idea  is  a  grand  one,  if  it  could  be  carried 
out  and  made  practical."  But  he  pointed  out  the 
prejudice,  and  stated  that  it  was  especially  strong  with 
reference  to  new  States,  which  had  obtained  so  much. 
He  recommended  that  a  member  from  an  old  State  be 
induced  to  present  the  matter.  Soon  after,  therefore, 
as  Prof.  Turner's  daughter  states,  it  was  determined 
to  send  all  the  documents  and  information  to  Repre- 
sentative Justin  S.  Morrill,  a  new  member  who  had 
already  shown  himself  a  warm  friend  of  agriculture, 

*  Early  in  1856  the  League  sent  one  W.  F.  M.  Arny  to  Washing- 
ton "  to  procure  an  appropriation  of  land  for  universities,"  as 
Arny  put  it  in  a  letter  to  Turner;  and  lie  succeeded  in  getting 
the  subject  before  the  Senate  Committee  on  Lands.  At  the  same 
time  the  State  Board  of  Education  petitioned  Congress  on  the 
matter. 


26      THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

with  the  request  that  he  introduce  the  bill.  He  re- 
luctantly consented.  The  measure  called  for  the  grant 
to  each  State  and  Territory  of  20,000  acres  of  public 
land  for  each  Congressman  or  delegate  according  to  the 
apportionment  of  1860.  The  States  were  to  establish 
within  five  years  schools  of  agricultural  and  mechanical 
arts,  though  "without  excluding  other  scientific  and 
classical  studies,"  and  the  lands  were  to  be  sold  to  pro- 
vide a  permanent  fund  for  them. 

The  history  of  the  Morrill  bill  for  the  next  few  years 
was  checkered.  It  was  reported  back  unfavorably  by 
the  Committee  on  Public  Lands,  and  was  resubmitted, 
Morrill  making  an  able  speech  in  its  favor  in  April, 
1858.  Turner's  daughter  records  her  father's  anxiety 
lest  this  speech  be  half-hearted,  and  his  delight  at  its 
fervor.  The  bill  passed  the  House,  but  went  over  to  the 
next  session  in  the  Senate.  Here  opposition  was  strong, 
and  it  did  not  pass  till  1859,  when  it  was  promptly 
vetoed  by  Buchanan.  The  main  reasons  he  alleged  were 
that  the  flooding  of  the  market  with  so  much  land  would 
hurt  the  Government's  sales,  and  would  give  large  areas 
at  low  prices  to  speculators ;  that  the  States  ought  not  to 
depend  on  the  Federal  Government  for  such  assistance; 
and  that  the  bill  was  unjust  to  existing  colleges.  He  felt 
also,  with  the  South,  that  such  paternalism  encroached 
on  State  rights,  even  to  a  degree  rendering  it  unconsti- 
tutional, and  it  was  evident  that  nothing  could  be  looked 
for  during  the  remainder  of  his  term.  But  supporters 
of  the  bill  were  hopeful  that  victory  could  be  won  under 
his  successor,  and  at  a  meeting  of  the  Illinois  State  Agri- 
cultural and  Horticultural  Societies  at  Bloomington  in 
1860,  where  a  report  was  heard  from  an  agent  who  had 
been  sent  to  see  what  was  being  done  in  other  States, 


LINCOLN  PROMISES  AID  27 

it  was  urged  that  the  Morrill  bill  again  be  submitted.^ 
Victory,  indeed,  was  now  near. 

The  final  passage  was  much  expedited  by  the  coming 
of  the  Republicans  into  power.  In  the  summer  of  1860 
Lincoln  promised  Turner  at  Decatur  that,  if  elected, 
"I  will  sign  your  bill  for  State  Universities."  A  little 
later  Douglas  met  Turner  on  a  train  near  Peoria,  and 
made  the  same  pledge.  In  June,  1861,  the  defeated 
Douglas,  then  Senator,  wrote  Turner  requesting  his  plan 
and  bill  for  a  system  of  industrial  institutions  and  a 
history  of  the  movement,  saying  that  he  wished  to  in- 
troduce the  measure  at  the  next  session  himself;  but 
he  soon  after  died.^  Morrill  brought  it  in  early  in 
December,  but  it  met  with  an  adverse  committee  report. 
Senator  Benjamin  F.  Wade  finally  introduced  it  in  May, 
1862,  and  after  a  ready  passage  by  both  houses,  it  was 
signed  by  Lincoln  on  July  2,  The  act  passed  was  sub- 
stantially the  same  as  that  vetoed.  The  chief  differences 
were  that  30,000  acres,  not  20,000,  were  granted  for 

*  At  this  meeting  Turner  advocated  the  passage  of  the  Morrill 
bill ;  and  turning  to  State  affairs,  "  suggested  the  necessity  of 
union  and  the  entire  abandonment  of  sectional  interests.  He 
deemed  the  failure  of  agricultural  societies  heretofore  to  be  due 
to  making  manual  labor  schools  out  of  them,  to  entanglements 
with  State  and  political  interests,  and  to  the  placing  at  their  head 
someone  whose  tastes  and  spirit  was  not  agricultural."  He  praised 
the  work  of  an  agricultural  department  lately  established  in  con- 
nection with  the  University  of  Chicago. 

^  Prof.  Turner  told  Dean  Davenport  shortly  before  his  death 
that  he  and  Lincoln  had  discussed  at  length  the  subject  of  a 
higher  education,  appropriate  to  the  great  mass  of  people.  Turn- 
er's correspondence  with  Douglas  on  the  matter  began  in  1857, 
when  not  merely  Yates,  Shields,  and  Washburne,  but  Representa- 
tive Owen  Lovejoy  and  others  had  expressed  hearty  approval  of 
his  plan.  Douglas  declared:  "This  educational  scheme  of  Prof. 
Turner's  is  the  most  democratic  scheme  of  education  ever  pro- 
posed to  the  mind  of  man,"  and  had  he  not  died,  the  bill  passed 
would  perhaps  have  borne  his  and  not  Morrill's  name.  Mrs. 
Carriers  Life  of  Turner,  p.  160.    Turner  MSS. 


28      THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

each  member  of  Congress;  that  States  were  excluded 
while  in  rebellion;  that  they  must  accept  within  two 
years,  not  five;  and  that  instruction  must  be  given  in 
military  science.  By  a  supplementary  act  four  years 
later  the  time-limit  was  extended  so  that  States  need 
not  accept  before  July,  1869,  and  need  not  place  the 
college  in  operation  until  the  same  month  in  1874,  Ter- 
ritories were  granted  land  according  to  Congressmen  at 
admission,  and  they  also  were  given  three  years  to 
accept  and  five  to  provide  the  college.  Thus  became  law 
an  act  under  which  benefits  have  been  granted  to  seventy 
institutions,  now  enrolling  yearly  approximately  100,000 
students. 

Morrill  never  acknowledged  any  debt  to  Turner  for 
the  idea  of  the  bill.  He  stated  that  he  did  not  know 
who  or  what  had  suggested  it  to  him;  that  he  was 
familiar  with  the  agricultural  schools  of  Europe,  that 
he  saw  the  limitations  of  existing  colleges,  in  not  more 
than  a  dozen  of  which  even  a  satisfactory  course  in 
chemistry  was  offered,  that  he  himself  was  son  of  a 
blacksmith,  and  that  he  felt  it  wrong  that  the  public 
domain  was  going  so  largely  into  private  hands.  In- 
deed, by  1858  the  idea,  thanks  mainly  to  Turner,  was 
almost  public  property.  But  there  is  little  doubt  as  to 
the  directness  of  Morrill's  inspiration.  Besides  the 
testimony  of  Turner's  daughter,  we  have  a  letter  of 
Morrill's,  written  in  1861,  in  which  the  latter  refers  to 
previous  communications  and  expresses  his  delight  that 
Turner 's  ' '  fire ' '  had  ' '  not  all  burned  out. "  Finally,  the 
language  of  the  Morrill  Act  shows  a  close  resemblance  to 
that  of  the  plans  drawn  up  by  Turner.  Morrill  called 
his  bill  one  ' '  to  promote  the  liberal  and  practical  educa- 
tion of  the  industrial  classes  in  their  several  pursuits 


A  SINGLE  UNIVERSITY  29 

in  each  State  of  the  Union."  The  resolution  adopted 
by  the  convention  at  Springfield  in  June,  1853,  spoke 
of  a  measure  "for  the  liberal  education  of  the  indus- 
trial classes  and  their  teachers  in  their  various  pur- 
suits"; while  the  petition  to  Congress  in  Turner's 
pamphlet  of  the  Industrial  League  spoke  of  "an  indus- 
trial University  for  the  liberal  education  of  the  indus- 
trial classes  in  their  several  pursuits  and  professions  in 
life."  Such  a  close  resemblance  in  phraseology  cannot 
have  been  the  result  of  chance. 

The  only  hope  for  a  State  University  in  Illinois  now 
lay  in  the  State's  acceptance  of  the  benefits  of  the  Mor- 
rill Act,  for  since  Turner  had  begun  his  fight  for  a 
Federal  grant,  a  State  Normal  University  had  been 
established  at  Bloomington,  and  to  it  given  the  income 
from  the  college  and  seminary  funds ;  while  an  abortive 
Agricultural  College  at  Irvington,  chartered  in  1861, 
had  received  the  trifling  pieces  of  land  belonging  to  the 
seminary  fund  left  unsold.  As  early  as  February,  1863, 
this  acceptance  was  made.  But  the  fight  for  an  undi- 
vided institution  was  just  beginning.  Even  before  the 
acceptance  a  bill  had  been  introduced  for  the  establish- 
ment of  the  "Agricultural  College  of  Southern  Illinois," 
and  the  "Agricultural  College  of  Northern  Illinois"; 
this  being  an  ill-concealed  attempt  to  divide  the  Federal 
funds  between  Shurtleff  and  Knox  Colleges,  for  men 
connected  with  these  institutions  were  named  Trustees, 
and  were  given  power  to  "make  arrangements  with  any 
existing  colleges"  for  agricultural  instruction.  To  this 
plan  Turner,  with  the  Industrial  League  and  the  State 
Agricultural  and  Horticultural  Societies  behind  him, 
was  unalterably  opposed.    * '  We  wish  now  wisely  to  begin 


30      THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

a  peculiar  university,"  he  wrote,  "which  our  posterity 
can  erect  into  the  strongest,  broadest,  and  best  uni- 
versity on  the  face  of  the  earth.  .  .  .  Our  institution  is 
wholly  new." 

The  measure  for  a  division  of  the  land  grant  failed, 
as  similar  measures  failed  in  other  States,  notably  New 
York;  and  the  public  opposition  to  the  designs  of  sev- 
eral of  the  literary  colleges,  manifested  especially  by  a 
series  of  mass  meetings  of  farmers  and  mechanics, 
caused  those  who  wished  such  a  division  to  give  over 
further  attempts.  But  they  were  followed  by  Chicagoans 
who  believed  that  the  Federal  grant  should  be  split  be- 
tween an  agricultural  and  a  mechanical  institution,  the 
one  to  be  located  in  some  rich  farming  region,  the  other 
in  the  metropolis.  Though  their  design,  too,  failed, 
the  confusion  among  the  various  interests  was  sufficient 
to  block  a  bill  introduced  by  the  indignant  farmers  and 
others.  Turner  at  their  head,  at  the  session  of  1865 — a 
committee  of  six  under  the  chairmanship  of  Turner 
appointed  at  the  State  Fair  of  1864  having  framed 
it.  On  the  whole,  however,  the  course  of  events  was 
favorable  to  those  desiring  a  single  new  State  institu- 
tion, and  when  the  session  ended  they  looked  forward  to 
a  prompt  victory.  Plans  were  at  once  laid,  at  a  meeting 
held  in  Bloomington  in  December,  1865,  and  elsewhere, 
for  reintroducing  the  measure  at  the  next  biennial 
session. 

The  eleventh  section  of  the  farmers'  bill,  as  it  was 
duly  brought  forward  again  in  1867,  provided  for  a 
commission  to  locate  the  University;  and  its  discussion 
at  Springfield  opened  one  of  the  strangest  contests  in  the 
State's  history — that  for  the  location  of  the  Illinois 
Industrial   University.     In    1865    Champaign    County 


CONTEST  OVER  LOCATION       31 

was  already  a  prominent  contestant.  Some  speculators  ^ 
there  had  a  few  years  before  obtained  a  charter  for  the 
Urbana  and  Champaign  Institute,  had  purchased  about 
one  hundred  acres  between  the  two  villages,  and  had 
agreed  to  erect  on  it  a  brick  building — upon  an  under- 
standing that  a  large  part  of  the  area,  when  divided  into 
lots,  was  to  be  bought  by  people  of  the  community — 
subscribers — at  advanced  prices.^  The  war  had  left  each 
side  to  the  contract  unable  fully  to  carry  out  its  bar- 
gain, and  each  was  eager  to  find  some  disposition  for 
the  unfinished  structure.  Late  in  1864  citizens  had 
called  the  Governor's  attention  to  the  facilities  offered 
by  the  building  for  a  prompt  opening  of  the  University, 
while  the  supervisors  appointed  a  committee  to  offer 
building,  grounds,  and  farm  to  the  Legislature  as  a  site. 
This  committee  formed  a  combination  at  Springfield 
which  amended  the  eleventh  section  to  direct  the  loca- 
tion of  the  school  of  mechanic  arts  in  Chicago  and  of 
the  University  proper  at  the  Twin  Cities,  and  made 
optional  the  location  of  the  agricultural  department  in 
the  southern  part  of  the  State,  all  on  condition  that 
stated  departmental  endowments  were  offered — a  plan 
diabolically  calculated  to  wreck  the  University  forever. 
The  *'ring"  carried  the  bill  in  the  House,  but  failed  to 
get  it  through  the  Senate. 

Meanwhile  other  localities  were  awakening  to  the  op- 

*  Messrs.  J.  C.  Stoughton,  J.  E.  Babcock,  and  George  Harvey,  the 
builders,  perhaps  deserve  the  name  of  promoters.  Stougliton  was  a 
Methodist  minister. 

'  Urbana  was  one  of  the  older  settlements  in  this  part  of  the 
State.  Champaign  was  first  organized  because  the  Illinois  Central 
Railway,  meeting  some  difficulty  in  obtaining  a  right  of  way 
through  Urbana,  chose  one  two  miles  to  the  west,  where  it  placed 
a  combined  passenger  station  and  hotel  and  large  shops — although 
the  vicinity  was  described  as  "  an  interminable  slough."  Cham- 
paign was  incorporated  about  1855,  and  for  decades  the  feeling 
between  the  towns  was  to  be  bitter. 


32      THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

portunity  of  securing  the  University.  In  December, 
1865,  a  convention  of  farmers,  mechanics,  and  manu- 
facturers at  Bloomington  spoke  emphatically  again  in 
favor  of  a  single  institution,  and  appointed  a  committee 
to  prepare  another  bill.  In  October  of  the  next  year  a 
meeting  of  the  college  presidents  of  the  State  in  Chicago 
declared  in  favor  of  the  division  of  the  fund.  But  they 
were  laughed  at,  and  mass  meeetings  began  to  be  held 
at  various  centers  to  initiate  steps  to  obtain  the  site  of 
a  new  institution.  The  chief  aspirants,  besides  Urbana- 
Champaign,  were  Chicago,  Springfield,  Peoria,  Bloom- 
ington, Lincoln,  and  Jacksonville.  That  Urbana-Cham- 
paign  was  victorious  was  due  mainly  to  the  energy  and 
adroitness  of  one  man. 

This  one  man,  Clark  Robinson  Griggs,  had  been  a 
member  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature,^  had  settled  at 
Urbana  as  a  farmer,  had  accumulated  some  money  as 
a  sutler  in  the  Civil  War,  and  was  now  a  railway 
promoter.  Griggs's  shrewdness,  ability  to  manage  men, 
and  judgment  in  perceiving  just  where  doubtful  political 
transactions  would  become  illegal,  made  him  an  ideal 
agent  for  the  towns.  Few  men  in  Illinois  had  so  win- 
ning a  personality,  and  few  more  enterprise.  He  made 
friends  with  ease  and  used  them  with  dexterity.  More- 
over, he  fully  believed  in  the  claims  set  forth  by  his 
community.  The  eastern  section  had  been  neglected 
in  the  allotment  of  State  institutions;  it  had  a  more 
exclusive  interest  in  agriculture  than  others;  and  the 
Twin  Cities  had  shown  their  interest  in  education  by 
raising  the  new  building.  His  appointment  as  agent 
he  received  from  a  committee  of  citizens  late  in 
1866 ;  and  he  was  soon  after  elected  to  the  lower  House 

*  Griggs  had  had  his  first  experience  in  legislative  matters  in 
the  Massachusetts  House  during  the  struggle  over  the  Hoosao 
Tunnel  bill. 


GRIGGS'S  CAMPAIGN  33 

on  the  Republican  ticket,  and  given  the  manage- 
ment of  a  fund  of  at  least  $20,500/  raised  by  subscrip- 
tion, together  with  promises  of  the  towns'  earnest 
support.  Meanwhile,  in  October,  Champaign  County 
had  voted  a  bond  issue  of  $100,000  for  the  purpose  of 
obtaining  the  new  university. 

During  the  autumn  Griggs  set  out  on  a  tour  of  the 
State,  avoiding  the  rival  cities  and  interviewing  only 
members  of  the  lower  House.  In  five  weeks  he  thus  saw 
about  half  the  eighty-five  Representatives,  and  pledged 
fifteen  or  sixteen.  He  made  himself  acquainted  at 
Springfield,  moreover,  with  Gov.  Richard  Oglesby  and 
Lieut.-Gov.  Bross,  and  induced  both  the  Republican  and 
Democratic  State  Chairmen,  upon  compensation,  to  be- 
come aids  to  Champaign  County.  Most  important  of 
all,  he  set  himself  to  manipulate  to  his  own  ends  a 
number  of  special  local  interests  that  would  be  before 
the  Legislature.  Southern  Illinois  wanted  a  new  peni- 
tentiary then  being  projected;  Peoria  and  Springfield 
were  rivals  for  the  new  State  House ;  and  Chicago  wanted 
legislation  in  connection  with  her  park  and  boulevard 

*  The  exact  amount  given  Griggs  to  disburse  in  lobbying  will 
probably  never  be  known,  for  many  of  the  contributions  were 
unrecorded.  However,  on  May  1,  1867,  the  supervisors  of  Cham- 
paign County  listened  to  a  report  by  the  committee  which  had 
served  at  Springfield,  and  which,  according  to  the  Champaign 
Union  and  Gazette,  showed  "  that  $5,000  had  been  received 
from  the  county,  $3,000  from  the  cities  of  Urbana  and  Cham- 
paign, and  $12,500  from  other  sources.  All  of  which  had  been 
judiciously  and  cautiously  expended."  The  supervisors'  minutes 
of  Sept.  18,  1867,  show  that  the  committee  then  reported  "in 
reference  to  the  disposition  of  the  $45,000  voted  by  the  towns  of 
Urbana  and  West  Urbana,  to  aid  in  securing  the  location  of 
said  institution  in  this  county — which  report  shows  tliat  the  sum 
of  $30,873.39  was  expended  in  payment  for  land  offered  the  State, 
for  shrubbery  offered  the  State,  and  in  settling  various  bills  con- 
tracted during  the  session  of  the  last  Legislature,  and  for  services 
rendered  by  sundry  persons."  In  Twin  City  newspapers  it  was 
later  plainly  referred  to  as  "  the  corruption  fund." 


34      THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

system,  for  she  was  then  planning  the  steps  that  a  few 
years  later  were  temporarily  to  give  her  the  title  of  the 
"Garden  City."  Griggs  also  pointed  out  at  Pekin  and 
Danville  that  the  location  of  the  University  at  Urbana 
would  assist  the  prosperity  of  the  new  railway  planned 
to  connect  the  three  towns,  and  everywhere  he  urged 
that  Jacksonville  already  had  her  share  of  State-sup- 
ported institutions,  that  Bloomington  had  a  normal  col- 
lege, and  that  Chicago  would  grow  fast  enough  without 
fresh  advantages,  while  none  of  the  three  cities  could 
offer  such  agricultural  facilities  as  Urbana-Champaign, 
in  the  heart  of  the  most  fertile  prairie  region  of 
the  State.  An  interviewer  of  Griggs  in  1915,  when 
the  old  man  was  ninety-four  years  old,  still  found 
some  of  the  phrases  of  these  appeals  fresh  in  his 
memory. 

The  tactics  of  Griggs  at  the  legislative  session  of  1867 
were  calculated  to  win  respect  even  at  a  capital  where 
the  contemporaries  of  Lincoln  and  Douglas  had  made 
a  fine  art  of  political  maneuvering.  The  plans  of  the 
County  Committee  were  completely  shaped  by  him. 
Spacious  quarters  were  engaged  at  the  largest  hotel  in 
Springfield — the  Leland :  offices,  bedrooms,  a  buffet,  and 
a  reception  room  which  held  two  hundred  people.  Here 
he,  the  Democratic  and  Republican  Chairmen,  and  the 
committee  began  lobbying  on  a  large  scale.  Members  of 
either  party,  hostile  or  friendly,  were  invited  to  the 
hotel  for  liquor,  for  light  refreshments,  or  for  huge 
oyster  suppers  or  quail  dinners.  They  found  here  a 
place  to  lounge  in  easy  chairs,  to  chat  or  read  news- 
papers, and  to  listen  to  legislative  gossip.  They  were 
urged  to  bring  with  them  constituents  who  happened  to 
be  in  town,  and  to  order  for  these  constituents  as  freely 
as  for  themselves.    They  were  supplied  with  cigars,  and 


GRIGGS'S  CAMPAIGN  35 

groups  of  them  were  taken  to  the  theater.  At  the  week- 
ends entertainments  of  some  size  were  arranged.  Be- 
sides being  agreeable,  all  this  impressed  the  Legislature 
with  the  zeal  of  Champaign  County,  and  in  the  end 
many  a  member  voted  for  the  bill  simply  **  because 
Griggs  and  his  fellows  worked  so  hard." 

Meanwhile  Griggs,  by  having  himself  pushed  for  the 
nomination  as  speaker,  and  then  skillfully  offering  to 
withdraw  his  candidacy  under  certain  conditions,  had 
become  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Agriculture  and 
Mechanic  Arts,  which  was  to  pass  on  all  bills  for  the 
location  of  the  University.  It  was  his  right  to  nominate 
a  majority  of  the  members  of  the  committee. 

The  House  had  no  sooner  organized  than  a  member 
named  Baldwin  introduced  a  bill  dealing  with  the  loca- 
tion of  the  University,  and  it  was  referred  without 
debate  to  Griggs's  committee.^  He  then  introduced  his 
own  bill  with  the  eleventh  section  calling  for  the  loca- 
tion of  the  University  at  Urbana,  but  instead  of  holding 
it  in  committee  had  it  laid  upon  the  table,  so  that  it 
could  be  taken  up  and  put  upon  its  passage  whenever 
he  deemed  that  he  had  sufficient  strength.  It  was  by  this 
time  plain  that  Urbana  was  to  have  three  main  rivals — 
Lincoln,  Bloomington,  and  Jacksonville.  The  campaigns 
of  each  contestant  had  two  different  aspects.  On  the 
one  hand,  each  had  its  group  of  lobbyists  laboring  ener- 
getically, and  with  only  secondary  attention  to  the  real 
merits  of  the  case,  to  influence  the  Assemblymen.  Prof. 
Turner  was  not  a  member,  but  he  was  on  the  ground, 
and  by  his  wide  influence  ably  assisted  Representative 
Epler,  of  Jacksonville;  he  was  especially  bitter  against 

*  For  this  and  subsequent  matter  on  the  Legislature's  actions 
see  House  Journal,  1865,  670,  807;  1867,  vol.  I,  240 j  vol.  II, 
44Iff;  Senate  Journal,  1865,  886;  1867,  1047ff, 


36      THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

Champaign  County  because  of  its  infamous  bargain  with 
Chicago  in  the  preceding  session.  Gen.  Hurlbut  repre- 
sented Bloomington,  while  Lincoln,  with  one  McGal- 
liard  for  spokesman,  was  felt  from  the  beginning  to 
have  little  chance.  The  fact  that  Gov.  Oglesby  and 
Lieut.-Gov.  Bross,  both  skillful  politicians,  men  of  wide 
interests,  and  of  affable  personality,  early  came  out  in 
Griggs's  favor,  greatly  helped  the  latter.  He  was  as- 
sisted even  more  by  Robert  G.  Ingersoll,  then  Attorney 
General,  and  later  famous  as  lecturer,  orator,  and  ag- 
nostic— a  burly,  brilliant  man  who  liked  Griggs 's  energy 
and  intelligence.  The  other  element  in  the  contest  was 
the  material  inducements  held  out  by  each  aspirant, 
and  the  arguments  each  put  forward  on  the  ground  of 
State  policy.  With  the  aid  of  his  committee,  Griggs 
blocked  all  action  on  the  location  till  he  was  quite  ready. 
Cook  County,  with  Chicago,  contained  in  1865  less 
than  220,000  people,  Sangamon  County,  with  Spring- 
field, less  than  50,000,  and  the  counties  in  which  Jackson- 
ville, Bloomington,  Lincoln,  and  Urbana-Champaign  lay 
from  18,000  to  39,000  each.  But  Chicago  and  Spring- 
field failed  to  make  any  material  offer,  and  the  other 
four  centers,  with  the  population  surrounding  each,  were 
about  equal  in  financial  ability.  A  bill  had  been  passed 
early  in  the  session  allowing  any  community  to  make  a 
bid,  and  giving  it  power  to  vote  bonds  and  make  any 
other  financial  arrangements  necessary.  The  hope  of 
many  legislators  was  that  the  competing  localities  would 
raise  the  bids  so  high  that  at  the  start  a  sufficient  endow- 
ment would  be  procured  to  make  a  minimum  of  State 
help  necessary.^    The  bids  were  brought  forward  in  such 

'  Under  the  Morrill  Act,  Illinois  received  scrip  for  480,000 
acres  of  land.  The  Act  made  an  inequitable  distribution  of 
benefits,  New  York,  for  example,  being  entitled  to  990,000  acres, 
Kansas  to  but  90,000. 


THE  COMPETITORS  INSPECTED  37 

manner  that  they  could  be  increased  as  the  session  wore 
on,  Urbana-Champaign  in  especial  making  an  effort  to 
keep  her  pretensions,  at  least,  ahead  of  those  of  other 
cities.  Jacksonville  was  not  second,  however,  in  the 
seriousness  with  which  it  took  the  contest.  An  election 
held  there  on  the  question  of  covering  by  taxation  the 
amount  needed  for  a  large  offer  failed  of  its  object,  but 
a  committee  of  citizens  thereupon,  as  in  the  other  three 
counties,  undertook  to  raise  the  money  needed  largely 
by  subscription. 

Early  in  February  a  joint  legislative  committee  was 
appointed  to  visit  the  competing  cities,  and  determine 
the  exact  value  of  the  property,  bonds,  and  cash  offered 
by  each.  The  showing  was  more  favorable  to  Jackson- 
ville than  any  other.  That  community  was  estimated  to 
have  offered  the  equivalent  of  $491,000.  The  counties 
in  which  Bloomington  and  Lincoln  were  located  were 
estimated  to  have  set  aside  property  and  bonds  valued 
respectively  at  $470,000  and  $385,000,  and  at  Blooming- 
ton  the  Normal  University  would  have  been  merged 
with  the  new  institution.  Champaign  County  found 
herself  at  the  foot  of  the  list,  for  the  estimating  com- 
mittee computed  the  total  of  her  offer  at  $285,000.  This 
investigating  committee  was  thought  to  be  prejudiced 
against  Urbana-Champaign  and  in  favor  of  Jackson- 
ville, but  its  figures  were  doubtless  roughly  correct. 
When  soon  after  the  measures  of  the  various  counties 
were  voted  upon  the  alignment  had  not  changed.  Jack- 
sonville's version  of  the  eleventh  section  of  the  general 
bill  offered  237  acres  of  land,  the  Berean  College  build- 
ing, the  Illinois  College  building,  library,  equipment, 
and  $90,000  endowment,  and  $250,000  in  bonds.  Bloom- 
ington's  version  would  have  given  that  center  the  insti- 
tution on  condition  that  it  was  locally  endowed  with 


c  r  L^  fi 

O  <-J  o  'J 


38     THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

1431/2  acres,  $400,000  in  bonds,  and  $50,000  in  freight. 
Lincoln  offered  $350,000  in  bonds,  and  $50,000  in  freight. 
Champaign  County  offered  the  new  Institute  building, 
which  had  been  extravagantly  praised  by  the  legislative 
committee  on  its  visit  in  1865;  980  acres  of  land, 
much  of  it  near  the  building,  and  none  of  it  over 
three  miles  away;  and  $152,000  in  bonds,  freight  on 
the  Illinois  Central,  and  fruit  and  shade  trees.  It  is 
evident  that  Bloomington  and  Jacksonville  were  fairly 
well  matched,  and  Champaign  County  was  well  behind 
them.  The  one  factor  that  proved  decisive  in  her  favor 
was  that  her  committee  was  well  headed,  and  spent  a 
few  thousands  more  on  its  lobby  than  did  any  other: 
by  the  use  of  this  money,  many  believed  at  the  time  in 
an  illegal  way,  and  by  artful  and  unremitting  tactics, 
Griggs  finally  won. 

There  was  little  argument  on  the  floor  of  the  House, 
but  much  in  the  corridors,  and  here  Griggs  used  effec- 
tively his  contention  that  Jacksonville  had  already  been 
given  her  share  of  plums  in  the  asylums  for  the  deaf, 
dumb,  blind,  and  insane  located  there ;  that  Bloomington 
had  the  normal  school;  and  so  on.  One  of  the  chief 
arguments  against  Champaign  County,  its  inaccessibility 
except  on  the  north  and  south  line  of  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral, was  destroyed  when  a  charter  was  assured  early 
in  the  session  for  the  Danville,  Urbana,  Bloomington, 
and  Peoria  Railroad,  running  east  and  west.  And 
Griggs  had  perfected  his  plans  for  logrolling  with  other 
communities.  Despite  the  opposition  of  the  Chicago 
Tribune,  his  bargaining  with  the  Chicago  Representa- 
tives bore  fruit  when  they  made  no  specific  offer  for 
the  University  (though  they  proposed  a  bid  for  the 
mechanical  branch),  and  with  Springfield  and  Charles- 
ton when  they  also  refrained.    He  made  approaches  to 


CHAMPAIGN  COUNTY  WINS  39 

the  backers  of  the  canal  project  then  pending  for  the 
improvement  of  the  Illinois-Michigan  canal  and  its  ex- 
tension to  the  Mississippi  near  Rock  Island.  He  also 
redoubled  his  entertaining  in  Springfield,  and  he  had 
his  committee  hire  a  special  train  to  take  the  whole 
House  over  to  Urbana-Champaign  to  inspect  the  pro- 
posed site,  and  entertained  it  there  at  dinner.  His  use 
of  money  bred  a  general  whisper  that  he  was  guilty  of 
bribery,  and  Prof.  Turner,  in  angry  desperation,  finally 
came  to  him  and  threatened  to  have  him  called  before 
the  bar  of  the  House  and  put  upon  his  oath  that  he 
was  not  using  improper  means.  Griggs  stoutly  denied 
any  illegal  practices,  and  the  Jacksonville  members, 
seeing  how  impolitic  unsupported  accusations  would  be, 
restrained  Turner. 

The  culmination  of  the  contest  came  on  the  afternoon 
and  evening  of  February  20.  Epler  first  put  Jackson- 
ville 's  fortunes  to  the  test  by  moving  that  section  eleven 
be  stricken  out  and  one  for  the  location  of  the  Uni- 
versity in  that  center  substituted.  The  motion  was  de- 
feated. That  night  the  halls  and  galleries  were  full, 
and  when  the  debate  reopened,  Gov.  Oglesby  and 
Attorney  General  Ingersoll,  in  an  impressive  pause, 
entered  and  took  seats  near  Griggs  in  token  of  their 
support  of  him.  The  amendments  for  Bloomington  and 
Lincoln  were  successively  called  up,  and  defeated. 
Griggs  then  moved  that  the  bill  for  Urbana-Champaign 
be  put  upon  its  passage,  and,  after  he  had  spoken 
briefly  in  its  favor,  it  was  carried  by  a  vote  so  heavy — 
67  to  10 — that  not  merely  the  Governor  and  others,  but 
even  the  members  from  Jacksonville,  crowded  around 
him  to  congratulate  him.  Passage  in  the  Senate,  where 
Tincher  of  Danville  had  the  measure  in  charge,  followed 
as  a  matter  of  course,  though  here  one  bitter  member 


40     THE  FOUNDING  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

offered  an  amendment  referring  to  the  fact  that  the  bill 
"ignored  a  bid  from  Bloomington  .  .  .  $189,000  better 
than  that  of  Champaign  County,"  and  was  "passed  by 
a  combination  with  the  new  State  House,  canal,  and 
southern  penitentiary  'ring.'  " 

What  the  feeling  was  in  many  parts  of  the  State  at 
the  time  the  University  was  thus  located  may  be  gath- 
ered from  the  statement  of  Turner's  daughter  that 
during  all  his  years  of  arduous  work  for  the  education 
of  the  industrial  classes,  she  had  never  seen  him  so  dis- 
couraged as  by  this  legislative  decision.  "Rightly  or 
wrongly,  he  believed  that  the  University  had  been 
placed  in  the  hands  of  those  who  wished  to  use  it  only 
for  their  own  selfish  purposes,  with  no  consideration  for 
the  great  blessing  it  was  intended  to  be,  or  appreciation 
of  the  thought  and  labor  bestowed  upon  its  conception 
and  birth."  Farmers  all  over  the  State  had  distrusted 
Champaign  County  ever  since  its  effort,  in  1865,  to  win 
the  University  by  breaking  it  to  pieces.  They  took  its 
triumph,  following  such  persistent  lobbying,  as  an  evil 
omen.  In  Jacksonville,  Lincoln,  and  Bloomington  the 
feeling  was  so  strong  as  seriously  to  hurt  the  University 
for  many  years.  In  Chicago  the  Tribune  applauded 
Prof.  Turner's  statement  that  "this  is  the  first  time  in 
my  life  I  ever  knew  a  valuable  piece  of  property  to  be 
knocked  down  to  the  lowest  bidder."  To  this  sectional 
dislike  was  to  be  joined  the  opposition  of  the  sectarian 
colleges,  which  were  still  pointing  out  that  Connecticut, 
Rhode  Island,  and  New  Hampshire  had  given  part  or 
all  their  shares  of  the  Federal  grant  respectively  to 
Yale,  Rhode  Island,  and  Dartmouth,  and  which  might 
have  been  silenced  by  the  choice  of  Jacksonville  and 
Illinois  College  as  the  site. 

Even  now  it  may  be  contended  that  the  location  of 


NATURE  OF  LOCATION  41 

the  University  was  a  mistake.  It  went  to  two  mere 
hamlets,  in  a  sparsely  settled  region  regarded  as  little 
removed,  in  large  part,  from  a  marsh:  the  flattest, 
plainest,  most  monotonous  section  of  Illinois.  It  was  dif- 
ficult of  access,  and  the  "White  Elephant"^  in  which 
it  was  to  be  housed  was  ill-adapted  to  its  purpose.  At 
Jacksonville  the  University  might  have  suffered  from 
the  influence  of  the  too  rigidly  practical  and  utilitarian 
ideas  of  Turner,  but  there  and  at  Bloomington  it  would 
have  been  built  on  the  strong  foundation  of  an  existing 
institution;  at  Springfield  it  would  have  aroused  the 
more  direct  interest  of  the  State;  and  at  any  of  the 
three  its  natural  environment  would  have  been  more 
attractive  than  at  Urbana. 

*  As  the  opponents  of  Champaign  derisively  called  the  building, 
which  had  been  planned  to  cost,  with  ita  grounds,  about  $100,000, 
and  was  worth  at  most  $40,000. 


II 

BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

Organization.  The  Course  of  Study.  Regent  and  Trustees. 
Buildings  and  Faculty.  The  Fight  Against  the  Agricultural  Ex- 
tremists and  Sectarian  Rivals.  Entrance  Requirements  and  the 
Growth  in  Registration.  State  Indifference.  Admission  of  Wo- 
men. Financial  Difficulties.  The  College  Government  and  Stu- 
dent Life. 

It  was  provided  in  the  act  locating  the  Illinois  Indus- 
trial University  that  the  Governor  should  appoint  a 
Trustee  from  each  Congressional  and  judicial  district, 
and  that  the  Board  thus  constituted  should  hold  its  first 
meeting  in  March,  1867.  The  Governor,  the  State  Super- 
intendent of  Public  Instruction,  and  the  head  of  the 
State  Agricultural  Society  were  ex-officio  Trustees,  while 
the  Regent  was  chairman.  The  employment  of  the 
clumsy  term  "Regent"  was  due  to  the  fear  of  many 
that  a  conventional  "President"  would  lust  after  the 
conventional  studies  of  metaphysics  and  the  classics; 
one  Trustee  later  introduced  a  resolution  that  "any 
member  of  the  General  Assembly  is  competent  to  hold 
the  office  of  Regent"!  The  number  composing  the 
Board,  thirty-two,  was  found  too  great  for  the  proper 
dispatch  of  business,  and  gave  the  chairman  unusual 
power. 

The  organization  of  the  University  was  begun 
promptly  by  a  meeting  in  the  House  of  Representatives 
on  March  12.  The  Regent's  salary  was  fixed  at  $3,000, 
and  a  treasurer  elected  in  John  W.  Bunn,  who  had  held 

43 


GREGORY  MADE  REGENT  43 

that  office  in  the  State  Agricultural  Society.  As  there 
had  been  a  legislative  understanding  that  the  practica- 
bility of  placing  the  engineering  branch  in  Chicago 
should  be  canvassed,  its  location  there  was  authorized 
on  condition  that  no  part  of  the  University's  existing 
funds  should  be  used  for  its  establishment  or  main- 
tenance,— a  condition  which  effectually  quashed  the  am- 
bitions of  certain  mechanics'  organizations  in  Chicago. 
Proceeding  to  the  election  of  a  Regent,  the  Board  voted 
upon  the  names  of  Daniel  Pinckney,  of  Ogle  County, 
J.  L.  Pickard,^  of  Chicago,  and  John  M.  Gregory,  of 
Kalamazoo,  Michigan.  Prof.  Turner  had  refused  to  let 
his  name  be  used,  fearing  lest  his  purpose  in  his  long 
advocacy  of  the  institution  be  misconstrued. 

The  balloting  quickly  resulted  in  the  choice  of  Dr. 
Gregory.  The  man  thus  elected  w^as  popularly  little 
known  in  Illinois,  but  he  had  spoken  in  Chicago,  where 
he  had  impressed  some  Trustees  with  his  alertness  to 
the  industrial  movement,  while  he  had  a  sound  reputa- 
tion in  academic  circles  of  the  Middle  "West.  He  was 
net  yet  forty-five  years  old.  Born  in  northern  New 
York,  he  had  been  educated  at  Union  College  under 
Eliphalet  Nott,  and  after  studying  law  for  several  years, 
had  entered,  the  Baptist  ministry.  Later  he  became  the 
head  of  a  classical  school  in  Detroit;  in  1856  he  estab- 
lished the  Micliigan  Journal  of  Education,  which  he 
edited ;  and  three  years  later  he  was  elected  State  Super- 
intendent of  Public  Instruction.  After  serving  three 
terms,  in  1864  he  accepted  the  Presidency  of  Kala- 

*  Josiah  L.  Pickard  had  a  career  of  considerable  importance 
in  the  educational  history  of  the  West,  and  possessed  abilities 
that  quite  justified  his  candidacy  for  the  Regency.  He  was  at 
different  times  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  in 
Wisconsin,  superintendent  of  the  Chicago  schools,  and  President 
of  the  University  of  Iowa,  which  he  capably  served  for  nine 
years  ending  1887. 


44        BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

mazoo  College.  He  was  proposed  to  the  Board  by 
Thomas  Quick,  to  whom  he  had  already  given  a  promise 
of  acceptance.  A  man  of  great  energy,  he  was  also  a 
man  of  intense  belief  in  certain  ideas,  among  which 
was  practical  education.  He  was  well  versed  in  the 
classics  and  theology — subjects  indispensable  to  the  old- 
time  college  president.  But  he  was  also  interested  in 
new  institutions  and  new  doctrines;  a  man  who  loved 
to  travel,  to  mingle  with  society,  and  to  speak ;  and  one 
who  would  devote  himself  to  any  enthusiasm.  His 
talents  were  quick,  mercurial,  and  ready,  rather  than 
solid,  and  yet  he  had  the  requisite  determination  and 
persistency.  It  was  eloquent  of  his  energetic  character 
that  while  far  from  being  a  man  of  striking  personal 
appearance,  for  he  was  slight,  short,  and  without  dis- 
tinction of  head  or  carriage,  while  at  work  or  speaking 
he  seemed  impressive  to  his  companions. 

Undoubtedly  Gregory's  prominence  in  Baptist  circles 
assisted  his  election,  for  Baptists  numbered  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  Trustees.  One  was  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bur- 
roughs, President  of  the  old  University  of  Chicago, 
which  Stephen  A.  Douglas  had  been  instrumental  in 
founding  a  decade  before ;  six  others  were  active  church- 
men, three  being  clergymen.  The  nominator,  Thomas 
Quick,  was  head  of  a  small  Baptist  school.  It  is  little 
wonder  that  the  election  left  some  Trustees  apprehensive 
lest  sectarianism  figure  in  the  future  of  the  University, 
and  that  outsiders  shared  the  fear.  The  farmers  were 
especially  displeased  that  a  minister  had  been  chosen  to 
preside  over  their  highly  practical  Industrial  University. 
Turner,  who  had  never  hesitated  to  express  his  dislike 
of  *'old  hunker  presidents,"  groaned:  "0  Lord,  how 
long,  how  long?  An  ex-superintendent  of  public  instruc- 
tion  and   a   Baptist   preacher!     Could   anything   be 


Regent  John  Milton  Gregory 


UNIVERSITY  PROGRAM  SHAPED  45 

worse?"  But  no  better  man  could  in  reality  have  been 
chosen. 

Dr.  Gregory,  upon  surveying  the  field,  was  at  first 
inclined  to  withdraw  his  promise  to  serve,^  but  finally 
consented  on  condition  that  his  salary  be  raised  to 
$4,000.  He  automatically  became  chairman  not  only  of 
the  Board  but  of  the  important  committee  on  course  of 
study  and  faculty,  so  that  from  the  beginning  his  was 
the  guiding  hand. 

The  Regent  was  thus  at  once  confronted  with  the  most 
difficult  of  problems — that  of  drafting  a  curriculum  and 
organizing  a  teaching  staff  so  as  to  lay  the  foundations 
of  a  broad  University,  and  yet  please  those  who  in- 
sisted upon  emphasizing  industrial  knowledge.  Fortu- 
nately, his  committee-associates  were  able  and  broad- 
minded.  They  were  Newton  Bateman,  a  graduate  of 
Illinois  College  and  head  of  the  new  school  system  of 
the  State — the  virtual  founder  of  public  elementary 
instruction  in  Illinois;  Mason  Brayman,  a  scholarly 
lawyer  who  had  revised  the  State  code;  Willard  C. 
Flagg,  a  college  graduate  and  practical  farmer  of  wide 
reputation;  and  S.  S.  Hayes,  a  Chicago  lawyer  who, 
in  the  constitutional  conventions  of  1847  and  1870,  did 
much  excellent  work  in  shaping  the  fundamental  law 
of  Illinois.  These,  with  Horatio  Burchard,  later  director 
of  the  Philadelphia  mint,  Emory  Cobb,  J.  0.  Cunning- 
ham, and  John  M.  Van  Osdel,  a  Chicago  architect,  were 
the  fittest  men  on  the  Board.  Had  members  like  M.  L. 
Dunlap  or  0.  B.  Galusha,  farmers  of  strong  personality 
who  had  done  much  to  help  Turner  carry  through  his 
program,  been  in  the  majority,   Gregory  would  have 

* "  Sober  second  thought,"  he  says  in  his  Journal,  gave  him  an 
unfavorable  impression  of  the  prospects  of  the  University.  Mr. 
Quick  had  been  interested  in  the  short-lived  agricultural  college 
at  Irvington;  Prairie  Farmer,  June  20,  1868. 


46        BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

found  it  hard  to  give  effect  to  Ms  liberal  views.  For 
he  was  determined,  as  he  said,  that  no^' '  one-sided  edu- 
cation" should  restrain  ''an  institution  which  is  to  last 
through  coming  ages"  and  which  should  '* educate  for 
life  as  well  as  art. ' ' 

The  report  of  this  committee,  as  accepted  at  the 
Board  meeting  in  May  and  ordered  printed,  bore  few 
earmarks  of  a  compromise.  Full  advantage  was  taken 
of  the  fact  that  liberal  education  had  always  had  many 
exponents  in  Illinois,  and  that  the  rigid  conceptions  of 
Turner  had  passed  through  several  permutations  before 
their  expansion  into  the  Morrill  Act.  There  was,  of 
course,  complete  legislative  warrant  for  a  broad  cur- 
riculum. The  Morrill  Act  had  stated  that  the  leading 
object  of  the  University  should  be  to  teach  the  branches 
related  to  agriculture  and  the  mechanic  arts  "without 
excluding  other  scientific  and  classical  studies";  and 
this  clause  had  been  repeated  in  the  State  act  of  loca- 
tion. The  committee  admitted  that  the  prevalent  view 
was  that  the  scientific  and  classical  studies  were  simply 
permitted,  but  it  itself  preferred  to  believe  that  the 
intent  was  that  the  liberal  studies  should  not  he  ex- 
cluded. The  design  of  Congress,  it  asserted  in  contra- 
diction to  the  view  of  Turner,  Dunlap,  and  others,  was 
not  to  establish  a  wholly  new  sort  of  higher  institution, 
but  simply  to  extend  much  wider  the  benefits  of  science 
and  liberal  culture.  Aware  that  its  action  would  arouse 
a  storm  of  protest,  it  allotted  almost  as  prominent  a 
place  to  general  science,  to  trade  and  commerce,  and 
to  literature,  history,  and  philosophy  as  did  any  college 
in  the  Middle  "West. 

Turner  and  his  associates,  indeed,  had  very  definite 
ideas  as  to  the  bent  the  University  should  take,  though 
they  had  failed  to  have  these  ideas  distinctly  formu- 


TURNER'S  LIMITED  CONCEPTION  47 

lated  in  the  State  act  of  1867.  The  sturdy  old  professor- 
farmer  had  hoped  to  see  planted  at  Springfield  or  Jack- 
sonville an  institution  which  should  offer  practical 
courses,  and  little  or  nothing  else,  to  resident  students 
of  scant  preparation;  and  which  should  unite  investi- 
gative activities  with  those  of  modern  extension  work. 
As  he  told  the  Monmouth  County  Fair  in  1866,  he 
wished  to  see  experiments  in  all  arts  made  annually 
under  direction  of  the  Trustees  by  county  superintend- 
ents appointed  and  controlled  by  the  University,  to 
which  annual  reports  should  be  made.  The  same  thing, 
meanwhile,  should  be  going  on  in  other  States,  so  that 
the  whole  Union  would  eventually  become  one  vast  ex- 
perimental farm;  and  while  producing  one  crop  for 
present  wealth,  should  evolve  scientific  knowledge  from 
year  to  year,  to  be  diffused  over  all  classes  of  society. 
This  was  in  every  way  a  noble  conception,  with  fea- 
tures calling  to  mind  the  present  national  system  of 
engineering  and  agricultural  experiment  stations; 
but  one  impossible  in  the  undeveloped  state  of 
scientific  agriculture  and  to  infant  institutions  of 
learning.  It  is  true  that  the  Legislature's  petition  in 
1853  for  a  land  grant  to  each  State  for  industrial  edu- 
cation had  suggested  that  the  new  universities  should 
give  *'a  liberal  and  varied  education,  adapted  to  the 
manifold  wants  of  a  practical  and  enterprising  people"; 
but  the  context  of  this  phrase  makes  it  evident  that  the 
general  interpretation  of  ''a  liberal  education"  was  as 
a  more  practical  and  scientific  one. 

And  in  all  his  speeches  Turner  said  no  words  friendly 
to  the  inclusion  of  the  liberal  branches  in  the  Industrial 
University,  and  did  much  to  confirm  the  prejudice 
against  them.  He  thought  that  "the  professions  have 
been  studied  till  trifles  and  fooleries  have  been  magnified 


48         BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

into  matters  of  immense  importance."  At  Griggsville 
in  1850  he  lashed  out  at  "those  species  of  organized 
ignorance  found  in  the  creeds  of  party  politicians  and 
sectarian  ecclesiastics."  His  first  plans  stated  that  the 
addition  of  a  distinct  classical  department  would  depend 
upon  expediency,  and  that  it  would  probably  be  best 
to  make  practicable  arrangement  for  leaving  it  to  exist- 
ing colleges.  At  any  rate,  it  should  only  be  attached 
*'in  due  time."  Repeatedly  he  had  spoken  as  if  there 
were  an  abiding  cleavage  between  practical  and  literary 
education,  as  he  believed  there  was  between  the  whole 
interest  and  destiny  of  the  industrial  and  professional 
classes.  The  institutions  designed  for  the  one  could  not 
meet  the  wants  of  the  others.  Satan  had  "in  all  ages 
.  .  .  put  darkness  for  light"  and  seen  to  it  that  the 
workers  had  been  denied  the  higher  education  to  which 
they  were  entitled;  and  at  the  same  time  had  given 
the  professionally  employed  a  "hotbed  process"  of 
training  which  was  wrongly  dignified  by  the  name 
education.  "  The  old  curriculum,"  he  wrote,  as  the  Uni- 
versity 's  plans  were  shaping,  "  is  as  absurd  as  the  monk- 
ish learning. ' '  ^ 

Yet  Gregory's  committee  on  course  of  study  boldly 
proposed  not  only  the  Agricultural,  the  Polytechnic,  and 
the  Military  departments,  but  one  of  Trade  and  Com- 
merce, one  of  Chemistry  and  Natural  Science,  and  one 
of  General  Science  and  Literature.  The  distinction  be- 
tween the  last  two  is  interesting.  The  former  was  to  be 
a  course  in  applied  science — as  the  application  of  geology 
to  mining,  or  of  chemistry  to  agriculture  and  manufac- 

*  See  the  addresses  of  Turner  at  Griggsville,  1850,  and  the 
Granville  Convention,  1851,  the  Memorial  of  January,  1853,  and 
letters  in  the  Turner  MSS.;  Mrs.  Carriel's  "Life  of  Turner";  E. 
J.  James's  "  Origin  of  the  Land  Grant  of  1862  ";  Eeport  of  State 
Horticultural  Society,   1868,  p.   171  fif. 


ANGER  AT  CURRICULUM  49 

turing;  together  with  extended  investigations  in  chem- 
istry, geology,  and  natural  history.  The  latter  em- 
braced pure  sciences  and  mathematics.  The  division  was 
awkward,  and  it  may  be  guessed  that  the  inclusion  of 
some  science  with  the  literary  studies  was  undertaken 
to  make  the  latter  more  palatable;  for  in  this  last  de- 
partment were  also  the  classical  languages,  philosophy, 
English,  and  political  economy — or,  as  the  report  put 
it,  the  linguistic  and  philological,  and  philosophical 
and  speculative,  sciences.  Students  of  horticulture 
and  agriculture  were  to  be  allowed  to  complete 
their  full  course  in  three  years,  the  others  in  four.  The 
committee  suggested  a  division  of  the  faculty  among 
professors,  assistant  professors,  lecturers,  and  tutors. 

Men  like  Turner  and  Dunlap  did  not  object  to  the 
live  languages,  for  they  granted  the  argument  that 
scientific  farmers  should  be  able  to  use  French  and 
German,  while  the  wide  use  of  these  tongues  in  America 
made  them  of  additional  value.  But  Turner  had  de- 
clared himself  against  a  ''dead  literature,"  and  had 
written  with  glee  when  the  Royal  Commission  of  1850  of 
which  Goldwin  Smith  was  assistant  secretary  assailed 
Oxford  and  Cambridge:  "If  the  slow-molded  English- 
men begin  to  find  out  that  they  have  been  humbugged 
in  that  system  of  education  .  .  .  will  not  the  lithe,  agile, 
and  wary  Yankee  find  it  out  too?"  A  classical  teacher 
he  declared  enough  to  stultify  a  whole  generation  of 
boys,  and  he  termed  ridiculous  the  extravagant  claims 
set  up  for  the  classics  as  mental  discipline.  Many  of 
the  farmers  completely  distrusted  these  languages,  as 
they  did  philosophy,  logic,  and  even  economics.  When 
the  committee  demanded  a  place  for  Latin  and  Greek 
as  vehicles  of  science  and  scholarship,  and  main  con- 
stituents of  the  modern  tongues,  the  protest  was  instant. 


50        BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

What  a  course!  proclaimed  many  hostile  newspapers, 
especially  of  the  cities  disappointed  in  the  University's 
location;  French  and  Butler's  Analogy,  Cicero  and  in- 
ductive science,  Homer  and  mental  philosophy !  ' '  Why 
did  not  these  astute  committeemen  include  crocheting, 
embroidery,  and  lessons  on  the  harp?"  These  alleged 
heresies,  wrote  one  Trustee,  aroused  ''to  madness  many 
so-called  friends  of  industrial  education.  .  .  .  The  insti- 
tution was  denounced  as  no  more  than  one  of  the  old 
colleges,  and  the  question  was  derisively  asked,  'Why 
add  by  a  grant  of  public  lands  to  these  old  institutions, 
of  which  the  people  already  have  too  many?'  Charges 
of  willful  betrayal  of  trust  and  of  gross  perversion  of 
funds  .  .  .  were  freely  made  against  the  Board,  and 
rung  with  irritating)  changes  by  newspapers  throughout 
the  State  for  months. ' '  ^ 

The  State  act  of  1867  had  left  the  way  open  for  a 
modification  of  Turner's  plan  for  lodging  in  the  Uni- 
versity wide  experiment-station  and  extension-teaching 
functions.  In  a  sketch  of  a  model  charter  made  in  1865 
he  had  provided  for  a  corresponding  secretary  to  over- 
see the  experiments  made  in  each  county,  issue  instruc- 
tions and  materials  to  them,  and  collate  their  reports. 
The  law  which  commanded  the  appointment  of  other 
University  officers  left  the  choice  of  the  secretary  op- 
tional ;  and  the  Board  hastened  to  show  its  good  will  to 
tho  industrial  enthusiasts  by  choosing  Willard  C.  Flagg 
to  the  position.^     He  had  no  directions  for  his  work, 

'  The  Chicago  Trihune  led  in  these  attacks.  Tlie  Aurora 
Beacon  added  some  words  on  the  faculty :  "  Good  enough  men 
in  the  proper  place — all  strangers — not  one  of  our  own  well- 
known  men,  well  educated  in  what  we  want  taught,  are  called." 
January  2,  1868. 

*  This  led  the  Jacksonville  Journal  to  remark :  "  It  would 
seem  that  the  Trustees  are  coming  to  the  conclusion  that  in  order 
to  be  successful   the   instructors  of  the  institution  .    .    .  must 


THE  CORRESPONDING  SECRETARY    51 

aside  from  the  legislative  requirement  that  he  should 
issue  circulars  and  report  annually  on  the  progress  of 
the  institution;  and  he  had  to  make  it  what  he  could. 
This  proved  to  be  little.  But  in  advance  of  the  Uni- 
versity's opening,  he  sent  out  letters  asking  the  farmers 
an  account  of  their  experience  with  crop  rotation, 
manures,  deep  plowing,  and  different  varieties  of  stock, 
so  that  something  might  be  learned  of  the  best  agri- 
cultural practice.  The  answers  are  printed  in  the  first 
annual  report.  For  the  rest,  Gregory  and  his  fellows 
held  their  ground.  In  May  it  was  determined  that  the 
University  should  begin  work  the  first  Monday  in  March, 
1868.  Some  Trustees  wished  an  earlier  commencement, 
but  it  was  pointed  out  that  a  library  and  apparatus  must 
be  acquired,  a  faculty  chosen  with  care,  and  some  in- 
terest realized  on  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  of  scrip  for 
180,000  acres  of  land  and  $20,000  worth  of  Champaign 
County  bonds,  which  the  Board  had  just  authorized. 
The  University,  above  all,  musti  be  given  a  better  adver- 
tisement than  that  accorded  it  in  the  attacks  of  its 
enemies,  conditions  of  admission  made  clear,  and 
definite  information  upon  the  courses  diffused. 

This  second  or  May  meeting  of  the  Board  was  held  in 
the  chapel  of  the  Urbana  and  Champaign  Institute,  and 
gave  many  Trustees  their  first  opportunity  to  see  the 
University's  plant  and  environment.  Their  impression 
must  have  been  discouraging.  Urbana  and  Champaign 
were  then  mere  hamlets  upon  a  prairie  not  more  than 
half  occupied  by  farms.  Not  more  than  one  short  street 
was  paved  then  or  for  twenty  years  afterwards,  and 
only  a  few  were  even  graced  by  pine  or  oak  sidewalks. 

have  at  least  some  hastily  gathered  knowledge  of  agricultural 
matters,  as  well  as  ability  to  preach  sermons  and  teach  Latin 
and  Greek."    January  18,  18G8. 


52        BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

The  majority  of  the  buildings  were  of  the  cheaper  grades 
of  lumber,  scarcely  a  half  dozen  in  the  two  towns  being 
of  brick.  Stock  of  all  kinds  ran  at  large  in  the  streets, 
as  in  the  country  near  by,  and  the  residences  had  to 
be  securely  fenced  against  its  inroads.  The  public 
ways  were  littered  with  woodpiles  and  unused  wagons. 
There  was  no  general  water  system,  and  outbreaks  of 
typhoid  were  frequent.  Five  or  six  churches  served 
the  two  towns,  and  two  small  schoolhouses.  All  the 
territory  to  the  east,  south,  and  west  of  the  University 
grounds  was  unoccupied  by  buildings,  and  most  of  it 
was  virgin  soil;  while  to  the  north  ran  only  a  Sparse 
line  of  houses  connecting  the  Twin  Cities.  Between  the 
two  was  a  single  street  railway  line,  provided  with  a 
single  car,  which  at  intervals  of  two  hours  was  hauled 
bumping  by  a  team  of  mules  across  the  mile-and-a-half 
stretch — the  fare  ten  cents  and  the  passengers  few. 

The  building  in  which  the  University  was  to  be 
housed  was  a  five-story  structure,  with  a  four-story  addi- 
tion to  the  south,  was  125  feet  in  length,  and  stood  com- 
mandingly  on  the  bare  prairie,  high  above  everything 
in  the  towns.  The  entrance  faced  the  north,  near  the 
line  now  marked  by  Clark  Street,  while  a  side  door 
opened  on  Wright  Street,  It  had  as  yet  been  roughly 
finished,  these  doors  opening  directly  upon  the  ground 
level,  and  a  Trustee  remarked  that  it  looked  like  a  stake 
driven  into  the  ground.  Entering,  the  visitor  was  con- 
fronted by  an  ugly  staircase  that  wound  up  from  story 
to  story.  The  main  portion  contained  recitation  and 
dormitory  rooms;  while  in  the  wing  were  more  recita- 
tion rooms,  a  refectory,  and  on  the  upper  floor  a  chapel. 
No  bushes  or  trees  stood  near;  debris  was  scattered 
about;  the  only  paths  were  the  trespassing  tracks  of 
teamsters.     The    immediate     campus    comprised    ten 


THE  UNIVERSITY'S  HOME  53 

acres,  so  marshy  that  for  years  later  the  faculty  and 
students  wore  rubber  boots  in  crossing  it  in  winter  or 
spring.  Burrill  Avenue  was  a  cowpath,  the  Boneyard 
a  creek  in  a  pasture,  the  site  of  Green  Street  decorated 
with  old-fashioned  rail  fence  and  stiles.  The  quarter- 
section  later  to  be  known  as  the  "experimental  farm" 
lay  a  little  over  a  half  mile  to  the  south,  with  a  forty- 
acre  tract,  half  a  mile  long  and  not  owned  by  the  Uni- 
versity, between.  The  Busey  farm,  University  property, 
lay  over  a  mile  in  the  same  direction,  and  the  Griggs 
farm,  also  University  land,  to  the  southeast  two  and  a 
half  miles.  The  rounding  out  of  the  University 's  domain 
was  a  plain  need. 

The  attitude  of  the  towns  towards  the  University  was 
well  indicated  in  the  favorable  issue  of  the  struggle  for 
ratification  of  the  contract  which  had  been  made  by  the 
County  committee  for  a  University  endowment.  This 
contract  was  informal,  and  had  to  be  approved  by 
popular  vote;  an  adverse  vote  would  again  leave  the 
institution  to  be  contended  for  by  other  cities.  A 
spirited  campaign  during  March  and  April  was  en- 
livened by  a  bitter  quarrel  between  some  citizens  and 
Dr.  Seroggs,  a  member  of  the  Board;  while  it  was 
thought  that  Jacksonville  and  Bloomington  were  lending 
assistance  to  those  who  wished  to  defeat  ratification.  A 
series  of  meetings  in  the  various  towns  and  the  country 
schoolhouses,  however,  brought  out  a  large  majority  in 
favor  of  the  required  bond  issue,  and  showed  that  the 
citizens  were  willing  to  make  sacrifices  for  the  institu- 
tion and  hoped  much  for  its  development.  Final  con- 
firmation of  the  location  was  delayed  to  the  end  of  the 
May  session  by  the  Trustees,  some  of  whom  complained 
that  the  exact  letter  of  the  county's  contract  was  not 
fulfilled.   Thus  it  had  offered  ten  acres  of  ground  around 


54        BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

the  Institute,  and  there  proved  to  be  a  little  less.  The 
quarter-section  it  had  described  as  "adjacent"  was  a 
half  mile  distant.  But  the  Legislature  had  seen  and 
understood  the  location  of  the  lands,  and  the  objections 
of  the  reluctant  members — notable  among  whom  was 
President  Burroughs  of  Chicago  University — were  over- 
ruled; Burroughs  himself  finally  offering  resolutions  in 
praise  of  the  "noble  liberality"  and  the  "promptness 
and  good  faith"  of  the  county. 

During  the  summer  the  grounds  were  enlarged,  and 
alterations  and  improvements  undertaken  in  the  build- 
ing. It  was  given  a  new  front  entrance  on  the  second 
floor,  with  changes  to  make  that  floor  the  principal  one, 
and  the  lower  one,  later  the  chemistry  laboratory,  the 
basement.  A  flight  of  stone  steps  was  constructed,  and 
surmounted  by  attractive  white-painted  pillars  of 
wood,  while  Dr.  Gregory  threw  a  number  of  rooms  to- 
gether above  this  entrance  to  form  an  office  and  ante- 
room. A  sewer  was  constructed  to  the  Boneyard,  out- 
buildings were  erected,  the  grounds  fenced  against 
stock,  and  preparations  made  for  sowing  grass  on  the 
mud.  For  these  and  other  purposes  money  was  ob- 
tained by  an  ingenious  arrangement.  Though  a  part  of 
the  land  scrip  for  480,000  acres  had  been  sold,  the 
Morrill  Act  forbade  the  use  of  the  proceeds  except  for 
endowment.  It  was  therefore  ordered  that  these  pro- 
ceeds be  invested  in  Champaign  County  bonds,  and 
that,  as  the  University  already  held  $100,000  worth  of 
these  bonds,  the  scrip  be  used  to  buy  them  from  the 
institution  itself.  During  the  summer  of  1867  Dr. 
Gregory,  by  instruction  of  the  Trustees,  traveled  in 
Minnesota  to  aid  in  surveying  the  University  lands, 
locating  there  about  16,000  acres;  while  a  companion 
went  on  to  Nebraska.    In  the  autumn  the  treasurer  was 


GREGORY  AS  PLEADER  55 

directed  to  sell  $20,000  worth  of  bonds,  and  100,000 
acres  in  scrip  at  not  less  than  90  cents  an  acre. 

Dr.  Gregory's  early  return  was  prompted  by  his  desire 
to  defend  and  advertise  the  University,  the  county  fairs 
of  September  and  October  giving  him  an  excellent  op- 
portunity to  speak.  He  also  delivered  an  address  before 
the  State  Fair,  at  Quincy,  which  was  widely  reprinted. 
Elsewhere  impromptu  talks  were  given  from  the  rear 
end  of  a  farmer's  wagon,  and  inspired  more  than  one 
young  man.  The  hostility  evinced  in  the  spring  had  by 
no  means  abated.  The  Regent  enumerated  a  few 
months  later  the  three  classes  of  error  which  he  found 
most  current  among  the  prejudiced  or  uninformed.  IjOne 
consisted  in  the  assumption  that  since  the  University  was 
founded  mainly  for  those  from  the  farming  and  manu- 
facturing districts,  it  should  give  its  students  the  high 
school  training  for  which  no  provision  was  yet  made  in 
many  such  communities.  Another  lay  in  the  belief  that 
the  University  was  designed  exclusively  for  the  educa- 
tion of  children  of  the  industrial  classes,  and  planned 
exclusively  to  keep  them  in  their  Others'  callings.  The 
most  important  was  the  bigoted  conception  which  a  very 
numerous  class  entertained  of  practical  education,  so 
extreme  that  they  were  ready  to  denounce  anything  that 
reflected  a  broad  view  of  human  effort.  All  attention 
given  to  the  liberal  and  especially  the  ''elegant"  studies 
seemed  to  them  a  waste  of  time ;  and  they  insisted  that 
youth  should  study  things  and  facts,  "forgetting  that 
the  mind  admits  nothing  but  ideas,"  A  belief  of  dif- 
ferent sort  but  quite  as  unfavorable,  and  hinted  at  even 
by  Gov.  John  M.  Palmer,  was  that  schools  of  special 
education,  supported  by  the  common  treasury,  were  an 
injustice  to  the  great  body  of  the  people,  who  could  de- 
rive from  them  only  an  uncertain  and  remote  advantage. 


56        BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

Dr.  Gregory  fought  in  his  gallant  way  to  dissipate  these 
misunderstandings,  his  ready  logic  and  frank,  persuasive 
speech  serving  the  University  well.  At  the  same  time 
he  carefully  explained  the  real  idea  of  the  institution, 
and  drummed  up  prospective  students  from  farm  and 
town.  He  was  assisted  by  a  system  of  prize  scholarships 
which  had  been  proposed,  one  to  be  supported  in  each 
county  by  an  endowment  locally  raised;  for  these  com- 
petitive examinations  had  been  provided,  and  examina- 
tion papers  were  received  from  most  counties. 

The  most  effective  of  the  critics  of  the  University 
was  the  Board  member,  M.  L.  Dunlap,  a  close  neighbor 
of  it  and  well  known  as  a  farmer  and  orchardist.  Con- 
ducting a  column  in  the  Chicago  Tribune  over  the  name 
^"  Rural,"  he  had  wide  influence  as  a  writer  on  agri- 
— cultural  topics.  During  the  fall  he  began  a  damaging 
campaign  of  criticism.  His  motives  some  thought  un- 
worthy ;  they  believed  him  peevish  because  his  views  had 
not  received  greater  deference  from  the  Trustees,  and 
because  he  had  not  been  offered  a  lectureship  in  agri- 
culture. But  there  is  no  real  evidence  that  he  was  any- 
thing but  sincere  in  his  attitude,  and  he  had  many  com- 
panions. He  had  been  thwarted  by  the  Board  in  his 
desire  to  see  Daniel  Pinckney  made  Regent,  and  he  was 
alarmed  by  the  choice  of  Gregory.  He  had  been 
thwarted  again  when  he  proposed  an  early  opening,  and 
when  he  moved  that  women  be  admitted.  As  a  practical 
tiller  of  the  soil  he,  who  had  furnished  the  University 
$2,000  worth  of  horticultural  material,  was  outraged  by 
the  proposed  curriculum.  Against  this  he  drew  up  a 
severe  indictment,  and  ridiculed  ancient  history,  But- 
ler's "Analogy,"  and  Paley's  ''Evidences  of  Chris- 
tianity" unsparingly.  When  some  newspapers  pointed 
out  that  these  studies  and  readings  were  merely  optional, 


t   ■ 


g 
Q 

o 
S 

o 

w 

a 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OPENS  57 

he  turned  to  attack  the  vagueness  of  the  agricultural 
program,  refusing  to  be  reassured  by  the  fact  that  defi- 
nite topics  of  instruction  were  named,  and  asserting  that 
nothing  like  three  years'  useful  work  would  be  offered. 
He  was  much  echoed,  especially  by  the  State  Horticul- 
tural Society,  which  at  Urbana-Champaign  itself  had  in 
1866  uttered  implied  threats  against  those  who  did  not 
fall  in  with  its  narrow  views  as  to  the  new  education. 

The  inaugural  ceremonies  took  place  in  the  chapel  on 
March  11,  1868,  in  the  presence  of  the  Trustees,  distin- 
guished citizens  from  all  parts  of  the  State,  and  a  large 
number  of  townsfolk.  Hymn  and  prayer  were  followed 
by  the  University  anthem  composed  by  Dr.  Gregory : 

We  hail  thee!     Great  Fountain  of  learning  and  light; 
There's  life  in  thy  radiance,  there's  hope  in  thy  might; 
We  greet  now  thy  dawning,  but  what  singer's  rhyme 
Shall  follow  thy  course  down  the  ages  of  time? 

An  address  was  made  by  Newton  Bateman,  State  Super- 
intendent of  Public  Instruction,  laudatory  of  the  work 
of  Turner  and  of  the  whole  plan  of  industrial  education. 
Receiving  the  keys  of  the  University  from  Gen.  Hurlbut, 
Dr.  Gregory  then  spoke  for  nearly  sixty  minutes.  "  I 
should  be  something  more  or  less  than  human  not  to  feel 
the  solemn  pressure  of  this  hour,"  he  began;  and  he 
impressed  his  hearers  with  the  sense  that  he  appreciated 
his  responsibilities.  He  felt  that  the  University  was  the 
child  of  a  great  popular  movement,  and  that  it  was  its 
duty  to  strike  a  new  road  in  practical  education.  But 
with  tacit  allusion  to  men  like  Dunlap,  he  emphasized 
the  fact  that  no  narrow  education  would  do.  "It  is  but 
just  to  agriculture  itself  and  to  the  industrial  arts  that 
their  students  should  be  aided  by  all  that  refines  or 


58        BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

strengthens  the  mind,  and  that  their  educated  representa- 
tives should  be  the  peers  of  the  most  soundly  cultured 
men  in  the  scope  and  value  of  their  learning.  We  have 
an  ambition  to  send  forth  to  the  great  industries  of  the 
world,  not  men  who  are  puffed  up  by  some  little  smat- 
terings of  science,  but  clear-headed,  broad-breasted 
scholars,  men  of  fully  developed  minds — fit  leaders  of 
those  great  productive  arts  by  which  the  world's  civiliza- 
tion is  fed  and  furnished." 

Instruction  had  begun  nine  days  before,  with  an  en- 
rollment of  about  fifty  young  men — this  number  being 
disappointingly  small,  by  reason  of  the  wide  abuse  of 
the  University.  One-third  of  a  University  year  was 
considered  to  remain,  for  three  twelve-week  terms  had 
been  fixed,  fall,  winter,  and  spring,  ending  early  in 
December,  March,  and  June  respectively.  Two  model 
courses,  one  in  agriculture  and  horticulture,  and  one  of 
a  "general  educational"  nature,  had  been  adopted,  but 
a  wide  latitude  was  allowed  in  the  choice  of  studies. 
The  arrival  of  late-comers  finally  brought  the  registra- 
tion to  seventy-seven,  but  of  these  forty-five  were  from 
Champaign  County,  and  most  others  from  the  eastern 
section.  During  the  first  weeks  instruction  was  given 
by  three  teachers,  Dr.  Gregory,  Prof.  Wm.  Baker,  and 
Prof.  George  Atherton,  in  addition  to  whom  there  was 
the  head  farmer,  Jonathan  Periam,  who  was  later,  as 
head  of  the  Prairie  Farmer,  to  become  a  leading  agricul- 
tural editor  of  the  Middle  West.  But  Dr.  Gregory's 
time  was  largely  consumed  by  his  administrative  work, 
and  by  the  frequent  speeches  he  felt  it  his  duty  to  make, 
elsewhere,  and  he  was  obliged  to  seek  a  new  instructor. 
Consulting  a  local  Trustee,  Judge  Cunningham,  he  was 
informed  that  the  Urbana  schools  had  just  closed,  and 
that  "perhaps  the  principal,  Mr.  Burrill,  will  take  the 


THE  FIRST  FACULTY  59 

place."  Burrill,  a  graduate  of  the  State  Normal  Univ 
versity,  was  sought  before  he  could  leave  town,  and 
began  as  assistant  professor  a  connection  that  was  to 
last  nearly  fifty  years.  Even  yet  but  little  of  the  pro- 
jected program  could  be  realized — some  courses  in  nat- 
ural history  and  mathematics  under  Burrill,  in  English 
under  Baker,  and  in  history  and  Latin  under  Atherton. 
Atherton  was  also  the  first  teacher  of  military  tactics, 
and  had  the  entire  enrollment  for  awkward  squad. 
There  was  no  uniform,  and  the  motley  headgear  in 
particular  tried  the  heart  of  the  drillmaster,  though  he 
refrained  from  complaining,  for  he  knew  how  poor  were 
most  of  the  boys.  One  unhappy  wight  presented  himself 
at  drill  one  morning  in  a  high  silk  hat,  which  was 
bowled  to  the  ground  at  the  feet  of  the  professor  when 
his  neighbor  presented  arms.  Atherton  with  difficulty 
concealed  his  wrath,  and  thereafter  the  boys  were 
ordered  to  wear  "some  kind  of  a  cap." 

In  the  autumn  a  much  better  showing  was  made. 
For  this  term  five  new  teachers  had  been  procured: 
Lieut.-Col.  S.  W.  Shattuck,  a  Civil  War  veteran  and 
assistant  professor  of  mathematics  and  instructor  in 
military  tactics  at  Norwich  University  in  Vermont,  was 
brought  out  for  the  same  positions  at  a  salary  of  $1,200 
a  year ;  J.  W.  Powell  ^  had  been  made  professor  of  nat- 
ural history  and  geology,  and  granted  a  $600  salary  for 
the  summer  while  on  an  exploring  trip  in  the  Rockies, 
but  could  not  return;  Willard  Bliss,  of  Nokomis,  Il- 
linois, was  made  professor  of  agriculture  at  $2,000  a 
year ;  A.  P.  S.  Stuart,  of  Harvard,  became  professor  of 
chemistry    at    the    same    salary,    and    Capt.    Edward 

*  Prof.  Powell  was  the  noted  Major  Powell,  later  explorer  of  the 
Grand  Canyon  and  Director  of  the  United  States  Geological 
Survey. 


60        BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

Schneider,  as  the  first  catalogue  called  him,  an  Austrian 
Pole  who  had  been  educated  at  Lemberg  and  Vienna  and 
who  after  an  adventurous  life,  fighting  at  Solferino  and 
Magenta  and  throughout  our  Civil  War,  had  settled 
down  to  teaching  at  Carlinville,  was  brought  as  in- 
structor in  German  and  bookkeeping.  The  Regent 
remarked  proudly  that  the  faculty  ''without  exception 
came  from  the  laboring  classes.  They  were  all  trained 
in  boyhood  to  hard  labor,  and  by  their  own  industry 
won  the  education  that  enables  them  to  teach  others. 
Becoming  educated  men,  they  have  not  ceased  to  be 
practical  men. ' '  It  was  fortunate  that  they  were  inured 
to  hardships  and  hard  work,  for  they  had  plenty  of  both 
on  that  bare  prairie. 

A  considerable  number  of  youths  who  had  expected  to 
enter  the  previous  spring,  but  did  not,  appeared  in  the 
fall ;  and  the  total  who  matriculated  during  the  autumn 
and  winter  was  136.  The  entrance  examinations  still 
covered  only  the  elementary  subjects,  and  many  came 
with  the  frank  intention  of  staying  only  one  term  or 
one  year  to  supplement  grammar-school  work.  They 
thus  engaged  in  what  were  properly  preparatory  courses, 
though  studies  were  now  offered  in  history,  English, 
chemistry,  agriculture,  botany,  mathematics,  bookkeep- 
ing, and  modern  languages.  During  the  winter  Edward 
Eggleston,  the  novelist,  was  engaged  to  lecture  on  lit- 
erature. The  Regent  stated  that  so  many  students  were 
in  secondary  work  that  the  proportion  electing  strictly 
industrial  courses  could  not  be  determined.  But  it  was 
believed  that  nearly  one-third  hoped  to  take  up  agri- 
culture, and  a  number  of  others  mechanical  or  commer- 
cial training. 

Despite  the  patching-up  of  the  Institute  building,  the 
University  remained   greatly  hampered  for  room.    A 


DUNLAP  CONVERTED  61 

chemical  laboratory  was  opened  at  a  cost  of  $2,500,  and 
a  building  was  erected  for  a  mechanical  shop,  part  of 
which  was  used  as  a  stable.  During  the  second  year 
the  first  greenhouse  was  built.  But  better  mechanical 
quarters  and  equipment,  a  drill  hall,  and  above  all  a 
hall  for  recitations  and  general  purposes  were  urgently 
needed.  The  University  was  constrained  to  place  library 
and  museum,  recitation  rooms  and  dormitory  rooms, 
laboratories  and  administrative  offices,  under  one  roof. 
The  resultant  confusion  was  great.  The  students  were 
not  unknown  to  come  down  to  recitations  in  bathrobe 
and  slippers.  Prof.  Stuart  suffered  especially  in  having 
to  carry  on  his  experiments  in  small,  badly-lit,  and  damp 
basement  rooms.  Drill  in  winter  was  impossible.  And 
the  building  itself  was  none  too  good,  having  a  roof 
which  leaked  until  it  was  wholly  replaced.  In  the 
spring  of  1870  the  University  voted  $2,000  for  a  drill 
hall,  but  it  proved  impossible  to  erect  one  for  that  sum. 

The  University  could  not  be  fully  launched  until  ^ 
Gregory  had  in  some  measure  overcome  the  prejudices  j> 
prevalent  against  it.  One  important  step  towards  their  \ 
reduction  was  taken  in  the  conversion  of  Dunlap  at  the 
Trustees'  meeting  in  the  spring  of  1868.  The  other  mem- 
bers. Gen.  Brayman  at  their  head,  thought  it  intolerable 
that  an  active  Trustee  should  criticize  the  University 
upon  policies  to  which  he  had  made  no  particular  objec- 
tion when  they  were  launched.  They  unanimously 
adopted  resolutions  denouncing  his  attitude  and  demand- 
ing that  he  furnish  an  explanation  to  an  investigating 
committee.  He  tried  to  justify  his  course,  and  the  com- 
mittee at  once  reported  in  favor  of  his  dismissal  from 
the  Board.  Thereupon  President  Burroughs,  a  close 
friend  of  Dunlap 's,  made  an  appeal  to  him  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Board;   and  he  yielded  to  the   majority 


62         BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

opinion  and  promised  to  treat  the  University  with 
greater  courtesy.  At  the  same  time,  a  mass  meeting  in 
Urbana  adopted  resolutions  in  support  of  Gregory  and 
his  plans  for  the  University.^  But  this  was  only  a  first 
step,  and  the  criticism  among  horticulturists  and  agri- 
culturists continued  to  be  pronounced.  The  instruction 
at  the  University  was  belittled  and  misrepresented,  and 
its  removal  to  some  more  favorable  place  demanded. 
Finally,  the  Legislature  of  1869  adopted  alarming  reso- 
lutions. Whereas,  they  ran,  complaints  were  being  made 
in  all  parts  of  the  State  that  the  Industrial  University 
c^  "is  being  diverted  from  the  leading  objects  for  which 
r'^  it  was  established,  and  is  practically  conducted  on  the 
basis  of  an  ordinary  classical  school,"  it  was  necessary 
to  reaffirm  that  its  essential  objects  were  "the  teaching 
of  such  branches  of  learning  as  pertain  to  agriculture, 
horticulture,  and  the  mechanic  arts,"  and  to  direct  the 
Trustees  to  adopt  and  enforce  such  regulations  ' '  as  will 
peculiarly  adapt  it  to  the  educational  wants  of  the 
students  who  may  look  forward  to  the  adoption  of 
farming  or  mechanics." 

All  this,  as  Gregory  and  his  assistants  knew,  was 
highly  unjust.  In  the  catalogue  of  the  University  issued 
c^  in  the  spring  of  1869  an  enlarged  statement  of  the 
courses  was  prepared  specifically  to  combat  the  injuri- 
ous misapprehensions  which,  it  was  admitted,  had  grown 
out  of  the  former  announcements.     The  changes  were 

^  All  record  of  the  resolutions  concerning  Dunlap  was 
expunged  from  the  minutes  of  the  Board.  The  Champaign 
Democrat  states  that  the  discussion  of  Dunlap's  course  was  begun 
March  10,  and  not  concluded  till  March  12,  after  one  session 
lasting  till  two  o'clock  in  the  morning.  The  mass  meeting  was 
held  March  10,  and  the  preamble  to  the  resolutions  adopted  stated 
that  "  it  has  come  to  our  knowledge  that  a  small  minority  of 
the  Board  .  .  .  differ  from  the  majority  and  from  the  Regent 
in  regard  to  the  management  and  course  of  study  adopted.  ..." 
This  was  at  the  very  time  the  University  was  being  opened. 


A  FIGHT  AT  BLOOMINGTON  63 

designed  to  show  that  special  prominence  was  given  the 
branches  of  learning  related  to  agriculture  and  the 
mechanic  arts.  The  Kegent's  report  to  the  Board  a  year 
later  made  tacit  reply  to  the  Legislature.  It  had  been 
the  constant  aim  of  himself  and  the  faculty,  he  said,  in 
obedience  not  only  to  the  laws  but  to  the  wishes  of  the 
Trustees,  to  give  the  University  the  character  indicated 
by  its  name  and  by  the  Morrill  Act.  Without  refusing 
instruction  in  other  studies  to  those  who  desired  it,  they 
had  seen  that  all  had  taken  some  of  the  branches  relating 
to  agriculture  and  engineering,  and  the  records  showed 
conclusively  that  the  tide  of  undergraduate  sentiment 
set  towards  the  industrial  pursuits.  No  instance  was 
known  in  which  students  had  been  diverted  from  the 
industrial  studies  to  the  professions,  but  there  were  sev- 
eral in  which  men  had  given  up  ambitions  for  the  bar  to 
take  to  farming.  If  this  could  be  said  when  the  farms, 
orchards,  and  shops  were  only  half  developed,  and  the 
classes  largely  engaged  in  high  school  work,  what  might 
not  be  hoped  of  the  time  when  the  University  had 
reached  a  fuller  development? 

The  climax  of  the  fight  came  when,  in  the  spring  of 
1870,  delegates  of  various  agricultural  societies  met  in 
State  convention  at  Bloomington,  with  the  avowed  pur- 
pose of  arresting  further  abuses  in  the  disposition  of 
the  University  funds,  and  of  having  it  removed  where 
they  might  keep  a  watchful  eye  over  it.  The  alarmed 
Gregory,  on  the  day  set,  headed  a  delegation  of  the 
faculty  and  most  substantial  citizens  of  the  towns  to 
the  gathering.  The  meeting  had  only  been  organized 
in  Bloomington  when  the  Regent  obtained  the  floor  and 
launched  into  a  defense  of  the  University's  work.  He 
explained  the  adaptability  of  the  course  to  the  objects 
of  the  new  educational  movement  and  called  attention 


64        BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

to  the  legal  provisions  against  exclusion  of  the  classical 
studies.  This,  according  to  a  Trustee  present,  was  to 
many  of  the  delegates  a  revelation  of  the  true  intent 
of  the  University.  They  had  supposed  that  legally  it 
was  only  an  agricultural  college,  for  by  this  name  the 
University  was  usually  called;  that  for  the  industrial 
classes  alone — and  by  this  they  generally  understood 
the  farmers — was  the  land  grant  made.  The  effect  of 
the  speech  was  all  that  could  have  been  hoped.  Some 
courteous  questions  were  asked  the  Regent,  there  was 
a  temperate  discussion,  and  a  committee  was  appointed 
to  verify  his  statement. 

The  report  of  this  body,  made  at  the  State  Fair  in 
Decatur  the  following  fall,  was  a  complete  vindication  of 
the  University.  The  committee  had  found,  in  its  visit 
a  few  days  previous,  about  200  young  men  in  attend- 
ance, 50  of  whom  were  taking  agricultural  courses,  50 
mechanical,  and  65  work  in  chemistry.  Only  20  had 
elected  Latin,  and  none  Greek,  and  as  each  student  car- 
ried three  subjects,  this  was  thought  an  excellent  show- 
ing. The  visitors  were  also  pleased  with  the  personality 
of  the  Regent,  and  forgot  that  he  was  a  minister  in 
accepting  his  assurances  that  he  was  trying  to  make  the 
University  something  much  more  practical  than  the 
ordinary  college.  Their  sole  criticism  was  that  the 
model  farm  was  not  in  a  creditable  condition,  while  no 
sufficient  provision  had  been  made  for  farm  experiments, 
and  the  industrial  and  economic  statistics  of  the  State 
were  not  being  properly  collected.  In  adopting  this 
report  the  convention  not  only  approved  of  the  ap- 
parent progressiveness  of  the  University — -stating  only 
that  it  thought  it  more  important  to  discover  new  knowl- 
edge than  to  teach  old — but  appointed  five  men  to  enlist 
support  for  the  institution.    The  vindication  practically 


EARLY  GROWTH  65 

ended  the  harsher  criticism  and  greatly  strengthened 
the  school,  one  direct  result  being  that  many  farmers 
came  to  visit  it  and  see  for  themselves.  Meanwhile,  in 
March,  1870,  the  Board  had  already  defeated  a  direct 
effort  by  four  Trustees  to  obtain  the  acceptance  of  a 
course  of  study  omitting  Greek  and  Latin. 

The  alteration  in  the  State's  attitude  was  demon- 
strated when  in  1871  the  Legislature,  in  response  to  an 
appeal  from  the  Trustees,  authorized  a  new  University 
Hall,  to  cost  $150,000,  and  appropriated  $75,000  for 
beginning  it.  This  was  an  immense  gain,  for  it  enabled 
the  University  to  advertise  in  its  next  catalogue  that  it 
would  soon  have  room  for  1,000  students,  with  a  large 
chapel,  library,  museums,  drawing  studios,  thirty  class 
and  lecture  rooms,  and  several  rooms  for  literary  so- 
cieties— all  under  one  roof.  Money  was  also  granted 
($25,000)  for  a  two-story  battlemented  mechanical 
building  and  drill  hall,  with  towers  of  three  stories. 
During  the  summer  contracts  were  let,  plans  drawn, 
and  work  commenced,  making  it  possible  to  publish  a 
projection  of  the  two  buildings  in  the  catalogue  of  1871. 
At  the  same  time  Gregory  reported  progress  in  the 
numbers  and  qualifications  of  the  students.  The  attend- 
ance during  the  first  full  year  had  averaged  150 ;  during 
the  fall  and  winter  of  the  second  it  leaped  to  about  215, 
so  that  some  were  housed  in  the  basement  and  the  eight 
recitation  rooms  were  overtaxed.  The  students  repre- 
sented a  much  wider  area  of  the  State,  and  more  came 
with  the  expectation  of  staying  three  or  four  years.  The 
University  seemed  to  be  gaining  its  feet. 

In  1871  Gregory  was  for  the  third  time  elected  Re- 
gent, and  for  the  first  time  unanimously  and  without 
debate.  His  administration  had  just  nine  years  to  run. 
During  these  nine  years  he  was  as  completely  the  ani- 


66        BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

mating  force  of  the  University  as  lie  had  been  in  launch- 
ing it  and  setting  its  course.  Filling  the  two  chairs  of 
history  and  the  social  sciences,  and  philosophy,  he  de- 
livered two  courses  of  lectures  each  term.  He  guided 
the  development  of  each  college,  advised  with  the 
faculty,  attended  to  the  discipline  of  the  students,  and 
tried  to  imbue  them  with  his  own  ideals  of  character  and 
education,  by  giving  almost  daily  short  lectures  in  the 
chapel.  *'It  will  never  be  known,"  wrote  one  alumnus 
many  years  later  while  Mayor  of  Kansas  City,  "how 
far-reaching  was  the  effect  of  these  chapel  talks,"  Sim- 
ilar speeches  on  larger  themes,  given  every  alternate 
Sunday  afternoon,  attracted  the  townspeople.  His  abili- 
ties as  an  orator  served  the  University  well  outside,  and 
he  tells  us  that  in  its  interests  he  made  in  those  nine 
years  hundreds  of  public  addresses  to  conventions,  in- 
stitutes, societies,  and  high  schools,  often  traveling  at 
night  that  he  might  be  at  his  desk  again  in  the  morning. 
His  interest  in  educational  affairs  frequently  carried 
him  East,  and  he  became  so  well  known  that  Daniel 
Coit  Gilman  once  visited  him  at  Urbana.  Besides  a 
voluminous  correspondence,  he  wrote  many  reports  for 
departments  of  the  State  and  national  Governments, 
and  for  Congressional  and  legislative  committees. 
Three  times  he  visited  Europe  on  business  primarily  for 
the  University  or  State,  always  at  his  own  expense. 

The  struggle  he  had  to  carry  on  for  better  State  sup- 
port, the  constant  efforts  to  elevate  standards  of  entrance 
and  instruction,  the  contrast  between  the  weak  re- 
sources of  the  University  and  those  of  other  State  insti- 
tutions, frequently  discouraged  him.  Clark  R.  Griggs 
thought  that  he  was  deficient  at  times  in  the  buoyancy 
and  optimism  needed  to  inspire  greater  energy  in  some 
of    his    colleagues.     His    constant    labors    were    alone 


ATTENDANCE  67 

enough  to  break  down  the  freshness  of  his  outlook,  and 
his  relations  with  his  co-workers  sometimes  gave  him 
great  care.  First  there  was  J.  W.  Scroggs,  a  Trustee 
who  always  addressed  him  by  the  disrespectful  title  of 
"Doc";  then  Dunlap;  then  Dr.  Manly  Miles,  who,  be- 
coming a  non-resident  professor  of  agriculture  in  1870 
and  holding  a  resident  professorship  in  1875-76,  was  a 
thorn  in  Dr.  Gregory's  flesh  much  of  the  time.  Certain 
politicians  feared  and  disliked  the  Regent.  •'' Rural" 
persisted  in  milder  criticism,  and  was  followed  by  others 
who  thought  the  University  ought  to  devote  itself  to 
turning  out  a  sort  of  glorified  farm  hand.  But  Gregory 
never  lacked  the  enthusiasm  which  took  him  out  over 
the  State  to  represent  and  plead  for  the  institution, 
and  in  the  six  months  preceding  his  resignation  alone 
he  made  forty  speeches. 

The  attendance  during  these  nine  years  under 
Gregory  increased  gradually  but  steadily.  Everything 
possible  was  done  to  make  entrance  easy.  The  require- 
ments were  first  fixed  to  cover  merely  grammar  school 
studies,  and  when  they  were  increased  a  preparatory 
year  was  included.  The  first  catalogues  advised  stu- 
dents uncertain  of  their  ability  to  write  for  advice — 
and,  we  may  be  sure,  for  encouragement.  Expenses 
were  almost  ridiculously  low.  Each  student  from  Il- 
linois had  to  pay  ten  dollars  for  matriculation,  and  if 
he  held  no  scholarship,  $15  a  year  in  incidental  fees; 
room  rent  in  the  unfurnished  dormitory  was  $12  yearly, 
and  little  more  outside,  and  board  could  be  procured 
for  $2.25  a  week,  while  some  students  brought  potatoes 
and  corn-meal  and  cooked  their  own  food.  In  all,  strict 
economy  would  result  in  the  reduction  of  living  ex- 
penses, exclusive  of  clothes,  to  $100,  and  the  University 
asserted  that  most  such  expenses  could  be  met  by  work. 


68         BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

"Some  students  pay  their  way  and  have  money  to 
spare."  Argument  was  employed:  youths  were  told  to 
"come  without  fear"  and  some  place  would  be  found 
for  them,  and  that  no  sacrifice  was  too  great  which 
would  enable  a  man  to  take  a  place  among  the  leaders 
of  his  generation. 

The  average  number  of  students  from  1872  until 
1880  was  about  350.  The  admission  of  women  to  the 
University  in  the  fall  of  1870 — an  innovation  which 
Dr.  Gregory  thought  of  very  doubtful  wisdom,  but 
which  quickly  justified  itself — was  responsible  for  the 
presence,  in  general,  of  75  or  80  of  these.  The  panic  of 
1873  had  an  unfortunate  effect  upon  attendance,  but 
the  University  had  recovered  by  1878,  and  in  1879  and 
1880  registration  went  above  all  previous  marks,  the  en- 
rollment reaching  434  in  the  spring  of  the  latter  year. 
It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  the  preparatory 
department  for  these  latter  years  registered  over  one- 
fourth  of  the  entire  attendance.  And  as  compared  with 
the  totals  of  students,  the  rolls  of  graduates  were  piti- 
fully brief.  Few  completed  their  courses.  After  1874 
they  varied  in  number  annually  between  23  and  42,  and 
by  the  end  of  1880  the  total  of  graduates  was  about  250, 
or  one-sixth  the  whole  matriculation.  Of  those  who  did 
not  remain  during  the  four  years,  an  overwhelming 
preponderance  stayed  for  only  two  or  three  terms. 

As  discouraging  to  some  as  the  failure  of  the  students 
to  finish  was  their  failure  to  crowd  unanimously  into 
the  practical  courses  which  the  press  and  farmers'  in- 
stitutes. Legislature  and  University  catalogues,  were 
continually  exhorting  them  to  elect.  Except  during 
scattering  terms,  the  college  of  literature  and  science 
boasted  the  largest  registration  throughout  Gregory 's 
administration;  and  if  the  college  of  engineering  was 


DIFFICULTIES  IN  AGRICULTURE  69 

already  beginning  to  show  the  vigor  it  afterwards  pos- 
sessed, this  was  offset  by  the  lamentable  condition  in 
which  that  of  agriculture  remained.  In  1873-74  it  was 
possible  to  show  that  there  were  more  students  in  en- 
gineering than  in  any  other  course,  but  this  was  done 
only  by  separating  the  registrants  in  the  college  of 
literature  and  science  from  those  in  the  so-called  "ec- 
lectic" course,  wliich  was  one  in  the  liberal  arts,  and 
included  most  of  the  women.  Even  so,  agriculture 
made  a  bad  third.  At  the  end  of  the  year  1875-76,  the 
Regent  had  to  report  that  while  there  were  193  students 
in  the  college  of  literature  and  science,  there  were  but 
73  in  engineering  and  45  in  agriculture.  At  the  open- 
ing of  1879  there  were  149  students  in  literature  and 
science,  74  in  engineering,  and  only  23  in  agriculture. 
With  five  students  in  the  "elegant"  branches  to  every 
one  in  agriculture,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  rural  leaders 
looked  with  little  kindness  upon  the  University. 
Gregory,  as  he  protested,  did  all  that  was  possible  for 
instruction  in  agriculture,  and  for  a  time  had  hopes  of 
250  students  in  the  subject.  He  emphasized  it  in  every 
catalogue  and  circular,  and  every  speech  to  prospective 
students ;  more  money  was  expended  in  it,  more  teachers 
employed  in  it,  than  in  any  other. 

The  reasons  for  the  weakness  of  the  agricultural  col- 
lege were  multifarious.  Dr.  Gregory  thought,  for  one 
thing,  that  it  would  require  time  for  it  to  take  root — 
the  agricultural  schools  in  Europe  had  existed  for  a 
quarter-century  before  they  became  strong.  He  also 
believed  that  it  suffered  from  the  weight  which  tradi- 
tion threw  on  the  side  of  classical  education — that  the 
people  were  reared  to  look  upon  college  as  leading  nat- 
urally to  the  learned  professions.  His  successor,  in 
entering  office,   propounded  another  explanation:   the 


70        BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

fact  that  there  was  no  demand  for  graduates  of  an 
agricultural  college,  whether  as  teachers  or  farm  man- 
agers. An  advertisement  in  the  farm  papers  would 
bring  no  better  offer  than  one  of  $25  a  month  as  farm 
hand;  while  men  of  liberal  education  could  teach  or 
enter  business,  and  engineers  go  into  technical  work,  at 
from  $100  to  $175  a  month.  The  only  matriculants, 
therefore,  were  those  who  intended  to  take  over  their 
fathers'  farms.  Neither  quite  admitted  what  was  an 
undoubted  fact — that  at  that  time  no  real  science  of 
agriculture,  capable  of  furnishing  substance  for  a  four 
years'  course,  had  been  developed,  and  that  there  was 
as  yet  no  technical  education  that  was  a  necessity  to 
the  progressive  farmer. 

In  consequence  of  the  low  registration,  by  1880  it 
had  become  customary  in  the  West,  while  referring  to 
the  schools  of  agriculture  in  Michigan,  Kansas,  and 
Mississippi  as  unqualifiedly  successful,  to  rank  that  of 
Illinois  among  the  failures.  There  was  some  truth  in 
this,  but  also  some  injustice.  In  the  former  schools 
the  courses  lay  close  to  the  elementary  studies  in  nature, 
and  students  were  more  freely  admitted;  while  they 
were  schools  of  general  science  and  counted  their  sci- 
entific students  under  the  term  ''agricultural."  The 
school  of  Illinois  was  of  a  specialized  nature,  and  though 
it  was  not  reaching  the  great  farming  population,  it 
was  developing  an  actual  technical  offering  of  compara- 
tive respectability. 

For  some  years  the  University  granted  no  degrees, 
since  it  was  thought  that  industrial  education  would  be 
better  distinguished  from  the  older  form  by  the  mere 
granting  to  each  student,  no  matter  if  he  had  attended 
but  a  single  term,  of  a  certificate  setting  forth  the  work 
he  had  completed  and  his  standing.    But  those  who  left 


UNIVERSITY  HALL  71 

the  University  found  themselves  handicapped  by  the 
fact  that  they  could  not  claim  the  letters  that  are  the 
universal  symbol  of  a  university  education;  and  a  peti- 
tion to  the  Legislature  resulted  in  a  change  in  the  law 
in  1877.  Yet  the  Trustees  still  hesitated,  announcing 
that  they  thought  degrees  valueless  in  themselves,  and 
so  easily  gained  as  no  longer  to  distinguish  the  scholar 
from  the  charlatan.  They  would  yield  only  if  the  alumni 
seemed  rooted  in  their  prejudice.  As  a  result  of  this 
controversy,  a  conference  of  the  land  grant  institutions 
was  held  at  Columbus,  Ohio,  and  as  it  was  shown  there 
that  all  but  Illinois  were  already  granting  degrees,  the 
Trustees  permitted  the  class  of  1878  to  receive  them. 

The  slowly  growing  enrollment  under  Gregory  im- 
plied an  equally  slow  growth  in  plant  and  equipment. 
The  mechanical  building  and  drill  hall  for  which  an 
appropriation  was  made  in  1871  was  ready  that  fall. 
But  University  Hall  stopped  abruptly  when  its  walls 
were  half  built,  for  the  Legislature  of  1871,  pressed  for 
money,  adjourned  without  appropriating  the  $75,000 
necessary  to  complete  it.  As  what  was  built  would  soon 
have  gone  to  ruin,  the  Board  completed  the  building 
by  the  sale  of  $60,000  worth  of  Champaign  County 
bonds,  properly  a  part  of  the  endowment — a  white 
streak  across  the  west  end  still  marking  the  point  where 
construction  had  halted.  The  principal  address  at  the 
dedication  in  December,  1873,  was  made  by  Gregory,  as 
that  at  the  laying  of  the  cornerstone  had  been  delivered 
by  Turner,  who  seized  the  opportunity  to  confess  that 
his  fears  for  the  institution  had  been  belied,  and  to 
offer  it  his  best  wishes.  Though  the  Legislature  ulti- 
mately gave  about  $15,000  for  completing  the  hall,  and 
nearly  $30,000  for  furnishing  it,  the  endowment  had 


72        BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

after  all  been  reduced  by  some  $45,000.^  The  ugly  brick 
building  became  as  soon  as  completed  what  it  has  been 
for  nearly  fifty  years — the  center  of  the  University.  It 
was  justly  described  as  one  of  the  most  spacious  and 
convenient  in  the  West.  The  large  basement  had  win- 
dows that  projected  well  above  the  surface  of  the 
ground.  Above  this  rose  four  full  stories,  and  the  whole 
was  topped  by  two  towers  for  clocks  and  bells.  The 
western  or  library  wing  contained  on  the  main  floors 
three  large  halls,  devoted  to  library,  museum,  and  art 
gallery ;  the  eastern  wing  contained  a  chapel,  a  physical 
laboratory  and  lecture  room,  and  draughting  rooms. 
The  main  part  contained  thirty  classrooms,  on  the  top 
floor  were  the  literary  societies'  quarters,  and  just  over 
the  entrance  was  the  Eegent's  office.  The  arrangement 
was  excellent,  and  all  the  rooms,  corridors,  and  stair- 
cases were  spacious  for  the  period.  The  Arkansas  State 
University  later  duplicated  the  building  in  Fayetteville. 
The  chief  other  building  erected  under  Gregory  was 
the  Chemical  Laboratory,  completed  and  furnished  in 
1878  at  a  cost  of  $40,000.  Containing  five  laboratories, 
with  desk  room  for  300,  one  of  them  fitted  up  especially 
for  intructors,  and  a  lecture  room  seating  200,  in  its  day 
it  was  adjudged  one  of  the  best  structures  of  the  sort  in 
the  country.  The  plans  were  those  of  Prof.  N.  C. 
Richer.  A  tiny  astronomical  observatory  was  also 
erected,  and  some  minor  farm  buildings;  while  during 
part  of  this  period  the  University  tried  to  provide 
dormitory  accommodations  for  the  young  women,  and 
for  a  time  even  considered  converting  the  old  Institute 

*  This  statement  of  supplementary  appropriations  for  Uni- 
versity Hall  follows  that  dated  August,  1874,  in  the  Board  Re- 
port, 1873-74,  p.  122.  But  the  catalogue  of  1874-75  states  that 
a  total  of  $127,000  had  been  appropriated  for  the  erection  and 
furnishing  of  the  building. 


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TJBRARY  AND  MUSEUM  73 

building  into  a  hall  for  them  in  connection  with  the 
domestic  science  courses.  When  this  plan  was 
broached,  Gregory  decided  to  try  the  experiment  first 
on  a  small  scale;  and  he  provided  at  his  own  expense 
during  1872  a  home  for  the  women,  fitted  with  parlors 
and  laundry,  and  hired  a  matron  experienced  in  board- 
ing school  work.  By  an  extension  of  this  arrangement, 
two  dwellings  being  used,  over  forty  women  students 
were  ultimately  cared  for,  receiving  board  and  an  un- 
furnished room  at  $3  a  week.  But  the  men  retained  the 
dormitory. 

The  University  library  had  its  beginnings  when  in 
1867  Dr.  Gregory  spent  $1,000  in  buying  644  volumes 
in  New  York — of  which  210  were  in  history  and  biog- 
raphy, 113  in  science,  and  44  in  poetry,  English  litera- 
ture, and  historical  romances.  Two  years  later  the 
library  embraced  over  3,400  volumes,  with  history  and 
biography  still  well  in  the  lead,  but  with  a  collection 
in  agriculture  on  which  the  University  prided  itself.  In 
1871,  when  there  were  nearly  5,000  volumes  and  60  peri- 
odicals, half  of  them  agricultural,  the  first  librarian's 
report  was  received.  It  stated  that  books  were  taken 
freely  by  the  faculty,  but  to  a  very  limited  extent  by 
students,  who  had  to  charge  them  to  the  librarian  or 
some  teacher;  while  progress  was  being  made  upon  a 
wi'itten  catalogue.  That  summer  Prof.  Baker  visited 
England  to  purchase  new  volumes.  Thus  the  library 
grew,  Gregory  frequently  complaining  that  nothing 
was  more  vexatious  than  the  Trustees'  failure  to  keep 
the  collection  abreast  of  the  times,  till  when  he  went 
out  of  office  there  were  12,500  volumes,  1,000  pam- 
phlets, and  80  current  periodicals,  or  enough,  he 
thought,  to  justify  the  hiring  of  a  librarian  on 
full    time.     As   for   the    University   museum,    it   had 


74        BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

its  beginnings  in  Prof.  Powell's  trip  to  the  Rockies, 
and  in  a  summer  tour  of  Illinois  made  by  Prof. 
Burrill  and  five  helpers  in  1869  for  the  collection  of 
plants,  birds,  insects,  small  mammals,  and  geological 
specimens.  It  had  no  legislative  help  till  1877,  when  it 
received  $3,000  for  raw  materials.  Yet  three  years  later 
it  contained  mounted  specimens  of  nearly  all  the 
ruminants  of  North  America;  representatives  of  prac- 
tically all  orders  of  mammals;  all  the  families  of  North 
American  birds;  fishes,  shells,  imitation  fossils,  and 
Indian  relics.  It  early  served  as  a  powerful  stimulus  to 
the  study  of  the  natural  history  branches,  and  for  several 
years  divided  with  the  art  gallery  the  interest  of  stu- 
dents and  of  the  general  public  as  one  of  the  two  show 
places  about  the  University.  Much  of  its  best  material 
was,  in  fact,  the  product  of  the  work  of  a  band  of 
enthusiastic  students  led  by  an  unusually  active  and 
promising  field  naturalist,  George  A.  Wild,  an  instructor 
who  went  to  England  in  1880  to  study  under  Huxley, 
but  who  died  soon  after  returning. 

The  art  gallery  grew  out  of  one  of  Gregory's  early 
visits  to  Europe,  and  was  for  its  day  a  considerable 
achievement.  It  was  in  order  before  the  Centennial 
Exposition  opened ;  and  most  public  art  in  this  country 
is  held  to  date  from  the  Exposition.  No  collection 
in  the  West  at  the  time  surpassed  it  in  the  number  and 
value  of  its  pieces.  The  $3,000  needed  for  it  was  raised 
by  a  local  subscription.  Most  of  the  objects  were  se- 
lected in  Paris.  There  were  16  full-sized  statues,  as  of 
the  Laocoon  and  Venus  de  Milo;  42  statues  of  reduced 
size,  400  lithograph  portraits,  a  hundred  full-sized  busts, 
and  photographic  reproductions  made  by  Braun  of 
many  paintings.  When  the  first  casts  arrived  broken, 
Mr.  Dunlap  remarked  that  if  ground  they  would  make 


ORGANIZATION  75 

excellent  fertilizer.  But  the  gallery  attracted  many 
visitors,  and  high  schools  even  organized  special  excur- 
sions to  it,  while  it  was  the  inspiration  of  the  single 
alumnus  now  well  known  as  a  sculptor — Lorado  Taft. 

The  organization  of  the  University  was  simple  under 
Gregory,  in  accordance  with  its  slender  resources,  the 
then  limited  idea  of  university  education,  and  the  State 's 
distaste  for  pretentiousness.  It  was  launched  with  a 
clumsy  division  into  nine  schools,  expanded  in  the 
second  year  into  fifteen  which  were  simply  so  many 
departments.  But  the  fourth  catalogue  announced,  with 
a  careful  explanation,  the  inevitable  change  into  col- 
leges: the  colleges  of  agriculture,  of  mechanics  and  en- 
gineering, of  chemistry,  of  natural  history,  and  of  lit- 
erature, science,  and  art,  with  the  schools  of  commerce 
and  of  military  science.  Each  student  was  expected  to 
enroll  himself  in  some  college,  though  he  might  vary 
from  the  course  of  study  suggested  for  it.  In  addition 
to  the  teachers  already  named,  by  1872-73  there  were 
Prof.  Stillman  W.  Robinson,  in  charge  of  mechanical 
engineering;  Prof.  J.  Burkitt  Webb,  civil  engineering 
and  physics ;  Prof.  Joseph  Carey,  the  ancient  languages ; 
Prof.  Don  Carlos  Taft,  geology  and  zoology;  and  one 
or  two  minor  officers.  The  only  change  in  the  colleges 
came  in  this  year,  when  that  of  chemistry  was  dropped 
and  its  courses  included  in  the  renamed  college  of 
natural  science.  The  number  of  schools,  however,  both 
within  and  without  the  colleges,  multiplied.  Thus  be- 
fore 1879  the  college  of  literature  and  science  was 
divided  between  one  representing  the  modern  and  one 
the  ancient  languages;  a  school  of  domestic  science  and 
arts  was  announced,  and  the  courses  in  drawing  de- 
veloped into  a  school  of  art  and  design.  In  1878  the 
first  deans  had  begun  to  serve — Prof.  Snyder  for  lit- 


76         BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

erature  and  science,  Prof.  Burrill  for  natural  science, 
Prof.  Robinson  for  engineering,  and  Prof.  Morrow  for 
agriculture. 

The  development  of  several  of  these  divisions  has 
some  aspects  of  note.  Thus  the  college  of  engineering, 
which  was  largely  the  creation  of  Prof.  Robinson,  was 
responsible  for  the  opening  of  the  first  educational  shop- 
courses  in  America.  When  Robinson  arrived,  he  found 
his  scant  work-materials  sharing  a  rough  stable  with 
some  mules;  and  with  $2,000  he  drove  the  mules  out, 
added  a  second  story,  built  a  steam  engine  and  installed 
a  lathe,  and  with  his  students  proceeded  to  make  a 
variety  of  machinery  for  the  shop.  This,  apparently, 
was  the  second  practice  shop  to  be  opened  in  America.'^ 
In  the  new  mechanical  building  he  introduced  some 
novel  pedagogical  principles,  for  the  classroom  work  was 
professedly  instruction  in  invention,  and  while  careless 
of  discipline,  he  aroused  the  enthusiasm  of  his  small 
groups  of  disciples.  He  himself  took  out  a  number  of 
patents.  In  this  building  during  his  nine-years'  stay 
were  made,  besides  the  steam  engine  which  furnished  its 
power  for  twenty-five  years,  a  number  of  ingenious  me- 
chanical movements,  a  machine  for  automatically  grad- 
uating thermometer  scales,  still  unique,  a  sewing  ma- 
chine, and  the  tower  clock  of  University  Hall. 

Characteristic  of  Robinson's  ingenuity  was  a  problem 

*  It  was  the  sight  of  an  exhibit  by  the  shops  at  the  Centennial 
Exposition  which  led  President  Runkle  of  the  Massachusetts 
Institute  of  Technology  to  introduce  shop  work  into  that  institu- 
tion. A  visit  to  the  shops  by  the  president  of  the  Trustees  of 
Rose  Polytechnic  Institute  gave  to  Mr.  Rose's  beneficence  the  di- 
rection it  took.  In  1873  N.  C.  Ricker,  appointed  instructor  in 
architecture,  brought  from  his  European  study  some  practical 
suggestions  as  to  the  shops.  It  is  said  that  a  Trustee  led  Ricker 
into  his  newly-furnished  quarters  with  the  remark  that  he  was 

"expected  to  make  the  d d  thing  pay!  "    Board  Report,  1888, 

p.  206. 


ENGINEERING  AND  AGRICULTURE         77 

once  given  his  class  in  physics  during  its  study  of 
mathematical  optics — that  of  designing  a  spectacle  lens 
which,  worn  by  a  public  speaker,  should  be  free  from 
the  reflection  that  frequently  annoys  his  auditors.  One 
piece  of  apparatus  which  he  designed  and  had  con- 
structed in  the  shops  furnished  the  only  instrument  that 
a  decade  later  could  measure  the  flow  of  gas  from  the 
wells  of  Indiana  and  Ohio;  while  certain  of  his  mathe- 
matical investigations  refuted  the  conclusions  of  two 
authorities  on  river  hydraulics.  And  if  his  pedagogical 
methods  were  informal,  they  were  none  the  less  thor- 
ough. It  was  a  period  in  which  many  educated  people 
thought  that  the  proper  function  of  an  engineering 
college  was  to  give  students  a  rapid  and  superficial 
knowledge  of  technical  formulae  and  methods,  and  a 
book  written  to  show  that  the  engineer  had  no  need 
of  higher  mathematics  gained  a  wide  reading.  Robin- 
son stood  staunchly  by  his  belief  that  engineering  gave 
scope  for  extended  research,  and  must  be  founded  on 
a  thorough  mathematical  and  scientific  education.  He 
stood,  too,  by  his  faith  that  its  future  was  to  belong 
to  the  college-educated  man.  Practical  engineers  in  the 
West  were  impatient  of  book-taught  newcomers,  but 
Prof.  Robinson's  standing  persuaded  them  that  his 
pupils  were  worthy  of  a  trial.  It  was  a  distinct  mis- 
fortune that  a  higher  salary  attracted  him  to  Ohio  State 
University  in  1878.  Before  he  went  he  had  seen  three 
of  the  four  departments  of  his  college  firmly  on  their 
feet — ^mechanical  science,  civil  engineering,  and  archi- 
tecture, the  last  being  one  of  the  four  good  schools  in 
America.  The  department  of  mining  engineering  never 
gained  sturdiness. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  administration  the  college 
of  agriculture  had  as  uneven  and  dismal  a  history  as 


78        BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

from  that  of  enrollment  and  State  confidence.  Horti- 
culture was  put  under  the  charge  of  Burrill,  who  by  the 
early  seventies  held  sway  over  130  acres,  assisted  by  an 
orchardist,  gardener,  and  florist.  But  it  was  long  dif- 
ficult to  find  anyone  to  assume  the  chair  of  agriculture, 
Bliss  soon  resigning  to  go  to  his  own  large  farm,  and 
Miles  at  first  teaching  irregularly.  The  farm  was  well 
managed  and  more  tfian  paid  for  itself,  while  some 
instruction  in  agricultural  theory  was  early  pieced  to- 
gether. Thus  in  1871-72  lectures  were  given  on  soils 
and  fruit-growing,  by  Burrill;  on  general  agriculture 
and  stock-raising,  by  Miles;  and  on  veterinary  surgery 
and  gardening,  by  two  outside  lecturers.  Finally,  Prof. 
George  Morrow  took  up  the  work  in  1877 — one  of  the 
most  prolific  writers  of  the  time  in  agriculture,  and  one 
of  the  five  or  six  real  pioneers  in  the  science,  but  unable 
to  do  much  more  than  lecture  and  write.  The  first  year 
under  him  was  spent  in  the  study  of  botany,  vegetable 
physiology,  and  chemistry.  The  second  was  devoted  to 
soils,  fertilizers,  general  horticulture,  and  entomology. 
The  third  included  agricultural  engineering,  and  archi- 
tecture, animal  husbandry,  dairying,  and  landscape  gar- 
dening. The  fourth  comprised  rural  economy,  the  his- 
tory of  agriculture,  rural  law,  and  some  special 
investigation,  with  a  thesis.  The  course  in  horticulture 
ranged  from  studies  in  pomology,  forestry,  and  floricul- 
ture to  mere  related  courses  in  botany  and  entomology, 
and  with  a  liberal  interspersion  of  general  studies  it 
also  stretched  over  four  years.  But  much  in  both  fields 
was  merely  nominal. 

Gregory  showed  prompt  and  unusual  understanding 
of  the  possibilities  of  the  experimental  farm,  which  was 
provided  for  in  1871.  These  experiments,  he  asserted, 
must  be  systematic,  and  an  exhaustive  series  would  neces- 


BURRILL'S  RESEARCHES  79 

garily  occupy  many  years.  Following  the  recommenda- 
tions of  Bliss  and  W.  C.  Flagg,  he  had  surveyed  a  number 
of  plats  (these  are  the  oldest  consistently  devoted  to 
such  a  purpose  in  America)  for  experiments  in  cultiva- 
tion, and  with  fertilizers  and  plants,  and  he  recom- 
mended experiments  in  animal  husbandry.  For  a  time 
these  plats  were  under  special  direction  of  the  semi- 
absentee  Flagg,  but  in  a  few  years  were  united 
with  the  general  farm.^  But  none  of  the  agricultural 
experiments  were  half  so  valuable  as  those  of  Burrill  in 
horticulture.  The  latter 's  first  published  paper  was  a 
report  to  the  Board  in  1869,  and  he  presently  began  gen- 
eral publication  in  scientific  magazines  of  the  results  he 
achieved.  Some  of  these  papers  were  upon  a  subject 
which  he  was  the  first  scientist  to  discuss — the  bacterial 
origin  of  diseases  in  plants.  His  conclusions  were  for  a 
time  scouted  by  foreign  investigators,  but  have  since 
been  accepted  as  a  notable  achievement,  his  proof  hav- 
ing turned  out  to  be  incontrovertible.  From  1873  to 
1880  he  stood  alone  in  America  in  teaching  plant  pathol- 
ogy in  connection  with  botany.  In  1880,  in  the  Trans- 
actions of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science,  he  demonstrated  the  origin  of  the 
blight  of  apple  and  pear  trees  in  a  new  bacterial  species ; 
and  he  also  made  valuable  studies  of  the  "peach  curl" 
and  the  black  rust  of  certain  flowers. 

The  school  of  commerce,  announced  in  the  first  cata- 
logue as  designed  to  make  students  accountants,  suc- 

*  In  November,  1868,  Flagg  recommended  that  the  farm  superin- 
tendent report  a  scheme  of  agricultural  experiments  for  1869; 
and  the  Board's  horticultural  committee  at  the  same  time 
presented  an  elaborate  programme  of  horticultural  experiments. 
Gregory  submitted  the  recommendations  of  Bliss  in  March,  1869. 
Reviewing  the  farm  experiments  up  to  1880,  Prof.  Morrow  speaks 
of  them  as  "  conducted  by  Messrs.  Flagg,  Lawrence,  Johnson, 
Prof.  Miles,  and  the  writer." 


80        BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY, 

cessful  agents,  and  managers  of  commercial  enterprises, 
gave  brief  promise  of  becoming  the  first  University  de- 
partment of  its  kind  in  the  country.  It  was  to  include 
all  branches  casting  light  on  the  phenomena  of  business 
and  traffic,  upon  the  laws  of  production,  exchange, 
markets,  and  currency,  and  upon  the  history,  law,  and 
usages  of  commerce,  domestic  and  foreign.  But  the 
time  was  not  ripe  and  by  1875,  when  Fernando 
Parsons  took  charge  of  the  school,  signs  were  plain 
that  it  could  be  little  more  than  a  weak  analogue  of 
the  modern  cheap  business  college.  Three  terms 
only  were  given,  two  of  which  were  in  bookkeeping. 
Later  a  course  in  *  *  actual  business ' '  was  instituted,  and 
the  student  was  required  to  furnish  $2,000  in  college 
currency  with  which  to  carry  on  his  enterprises,  de- 
positing a  tiny  fraction  in  real  money  to  get  a  genuine 
sense  of  gain  or  loss.  A  commercial  bank  having  been 
equipped,  in  a  few  years  it  was  possible  to  reproduce 
a  large  number  of  business  situations,  while  there  were 
courses  in  penmanship,  commercial  calculation,  and  law. 
Yet  the  work  of  the  school  could  be  comprised  in  two 
years,  most  students  took  but  one,  and  in  1879-80  the 
Trustees  thought  so  little  of  the  whole  as  to  discon- 
tinue it. 

The  school  of  domestic  science  had  a  career  as  brief, 
but  far  more  creditable.  Half  a  dozen  years  after  the 
University  opened  Miss  Louise  Allen  came  to  it  with 
previous  educational  experience,  and  spent  the  fall  of 
1874  in  preparing  the  program  of  what,  as  she  claimed 
in  a  special  report  to  the  Bureau  of  Education,  was  the 
first  college  course  of  high  grade  in  domestic  science 
organized  in  this  country.  It  included  the  architecture 
of  the  dwelling-house ;  the  principles  of  physiology  and 
hygiene;  the  nature,  uses,  preservation,  and  prepara- 


MILITARY  AFFAIRS  81 

tion  of  food;  the  chemistry  of  cooking;  the  uses,  con- 
struction, materials,  and  hygiene  of  dress ;  the  principles 
of  taste;  the  culture  of  house  and  garden  plants;  the 
laws  of  markets;  and  the  usages  of  polite  society — that 
is,  etiquette.  Well  ballasted  with  chemistry,  physiology, 
and  with  mathematics  through  trigonometry,  it  was  not 
easy.  Miss  Allen  delighted  to  quote  Mr.  Massey  in 
**Adam  Bede":  *'A  woman  will  make  porridge  every 
day  for  twenty  years  and  never  think  of  measuring  the 
proportion  between  the  meal  and  the  milk ;  a  little  more 
or  less  she'll  think  don't  signify."  She  was  a  woman 
of  great  energy,  and  with  slender  resources  not  only 
taught  some  part  of  all  the  above  subjects,  with  lectures 
on  personal  health  and  the  care  of  children  as  well,  but 
opened  a  food  museum  on  a  London  model,  and  planned 
to  show  a  kitchen  fitted  with  the  most  modern  con- 
veniences. She  also  had  part  of  the  library  wing  of 
University  Hall  fitted  up  as  a  woman's  gymnasium,  and 
there  gave  instruction  in  calisthenics,  which  some  of 
the  most  important  medical  men  in  that  part  of  Illinois 
came  to  see.  In  1879  she  became  a  professor,  and  soon 
after  the  Trustees  justly  congratulated  her  on  having 
demonstrated  the  utility  of  a  practical  education  for 
women.  Her  marriage  with  the  Regent  brought  about 
the  closing  of  the  school.^ 

Of  all  the  departments,  that  of  military  training  was 
opened  with  the  most  glorious  dreams  of  the  future, 
and  was  most  harshly  brought  to  a  practicable,  humdrum 
plane.     The  military  course  was  a  feature  neither  of 

*  The  imperative  reason  for  discontinuing  the  school  of  com- 
merce was  the  necessity  for  economy;  and  after  Mrs.  Gregory's 
resignation,  the  same  reason  militated  against  continuing  the 
domestic  science  work.  It  also  dictated  the  giving  up  of  the 
school  of  mining  engineering.  The  whole  policy  was,  as  places 
became  vacant,  to  distribute  their  duties  to  other  persons  or  to 
eliminate  these  duties. 


82         BEGINNINGS  OP  THE  UNIVERSITY 

Turner's  nor  Morrill's  original  measures,  but  was  added 
to  the  Morrill  bill  in  its  last  stages  by  amendment.  In 
the  period  just  following  the  Civil  War  it  caught  the 
popular  fancy.  It  was  felt  that  this  military  instruction 
would  scatter  throughout  the  nation  a  body  of  men 
indispensable  in  war,  and  would  also  be  a  splendid 
disciplinary  force  at  each  institution.  In  no  State  were 
greater  expectations  pinned  on  it  than  in  that  of  Grant 
and  Logan.  Gen.  Brayman  prepared  a  special  plan 
which  contemplated  little  less  than  making  a  new  West 
Point  of  the  University,  though  a  liberal  one.  The 
students  were  to  be  organized  as  in  a  military  camp, 
with  the  usual  regulations  as  to  exercise,  recreation, 
sleep,  the  reveille,  the  roll  call,  and  the  tattoo,  arranged 
not  to  interfere  with  studies.  They  were  to  wear  uni- 
forms as  an  habitual  dress,  thus  achieving  democracy 
and  neatness  at  once,  and  awakening  the  manly  pride 
of  each  student.  The  inspiriting  fife,  drum,  bugle,  and 
military  band  were  to  be  heard.  Daily  martial  exer- 
cises were  to  be  enforced,  so  that  at  proper  intervals 
every  student  might  be  withdrawn  from  mental  effort 
for  physical  development.  Thus,  in  Gen.  Brayman 's 
opinion,  "the  race  of  wretched  dj^speptics,  hypochon- 
driacs, and  consumptives  which  crowd  the  learned  pro- 
fessions" was  to  be  forever  abolished  in  the  West. 

Col.  Shattuek,  the  first  military  head,  was  soon  suc- 
ceeded by  Snyder;  and  in  1877,  after  repeated  applica- 
tions to  the  War  Department,  and  enlistment  of  the 
help  of  Congressman  "Joe"  Cannon,  Lieut.  W.  A.  Din- 
widdie  was  appointed  professor  of  tactics,  soon  after — 
following  a  laughable  struggle  with  Snyder — becoming 
commandant.  For  a  time  Gen.  Brayman  actually  in- 
duced the  University  to  outline  a  three  years'  military 
course  to  qualify  graduates  as  army  officers,  but  this 


MONEY  TROUBLES  83 

was  quickly  given  over.  Nevertheless,  throughout 
Gregory's  administration  all  of  the  classes  drilled.  First 
the  State  and  then  the  Federal  Government  supplied 
arms  and  accouterments,  uniforms  of  cadet  gray  costing 
$27  each  were  introduced,  and  when  in  1872  a  drill  hall 
of  120  feet  by  80  was  opened  in  the  second  story  of 
the  mechanical  building,  the  appearance  of  the  batallion 
improved  greatly.  It  gave  exhibition  drills  before  legis- 
lative committees,  and  in  1871  was  taken  to  the  Chicago 
fire,  later  receiving  a  donation  of  $4  per  man  from  the 
Legislature  for  its  services  in  guarding  dark  streets. 
Before  the  centennial  year  it  had  been  incorporated  into 
the  Sixth  Eegiment  of  State  Guards — a  temporary  con- 
nection— and  as  the  Guards  hoped  to  go  to  the  Exposi- 
tion, Snyder  did  his  utmost  to  arrange  for  the  attendance 
of  the  students,  planning  a  schedule  by  which  each 
could  make  the  trip  for  $40 ;  but  his  hopes  fell  through. 
After  1875  the  Governor  made  it  a  practice  to  commis- 
sion as  captains  in  the  militia  those  students  who  had 
passed  the  courses  in  tactics,  had  gained  the  necessary 
experience  in  command,  and  had  been  indorsed  by  the 
faculty.  At  first  little  experience  was  required,  but 
later  no  one  could  become  lieutenant  who  had  not 
reached  the  junior  class. 

In  the  financial  history  of  the  University  occur  its 
darkest  pages  under  Gregory.  For  several  years  it 
made  its  way  without  difficulty.  Beginning  its  career 
with  480,000  acres  of  land,  it  was  unfortunate  that  it 
could  not  locate  a  large  part  of  this  and  hold  it  for 
a  rise  in  price.  Cornell,  retaining  its  acres,  was  able 
to  sell  part  of  them  at  about  the  time  of  Gregory's 
resignation  at  from  three  to  twenty  times  the  seventy- 
cent  average  which  those  of  Illinois  had  brought. 
Within  the  decade  all  but  25,000  acres  had  been  dis- 


84        BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

posed  of,  and  the  endowment  brought  up  to  about 
$350,000,  for  upon  the  income  from  this  the  University 
had  to  live.  By  spending  only  about  $35,000  to  $40,000 
for  running  expenses,  the  University  for  a  time  had 
interest  enough  to  meet  them;  while  before  1872  there 
were  two  liberal  biennial  appropriations  from  the  Legis- 
lature, one  for  $60,000  and  one  for  $120,000,  for  ex- 
traordinary expenses.  An  unsuccessful  effort  was  early 
made  to  obtain  a  regular  appropriation  for  agricultural 
experiments.  But  about  1875  the  pinch  began  to  be  felt. 
Three  years  before  this  the  Legislature  had  failed  to 
appropriate  the  money  needed  to  complete  University 
Hall,  and  the  loss  of  that  sum  from  its  endowment  had 
affected  the  institution's  revenues.  But  the  main  cause 
of  alarm  was  that  various  financial  circumstances  had 
greatly  depreciated  the  rate  of  interest  on  the  Uni- 
versity's bond  holdings.  At  this  time  Michigan,  with 
an  annual  income  of  $100,000,  and  Cornell,  with 
$110,000,  were  severely  restricted;  the  ease  of  Illinois 
was  much  worse. 

The  endowment  of  the  University  had  by  legislative 
direction  been  invested  in  State,  county,  and  municipal 
bonds,  at  rates  on  many  of  from  eight  to  ten  per  cent. 
But  the  "loosening"  of  money  after  the  panic,  with  a 
succession  of  harvests  that  brought  much  cash  into 
Illinois,  reduced  these  rates  by  nearly  one-half.  In 
1876  the  income  from  endowment  reached  its  high- 
water  mark — $32,543;  thereafter  it  steadily  declined, 
for  the  securities  all  carried  an  option  of  redemption 
after  a  specified  time.  For  the  year  ending  March, 
1877,  it  had  dropped  to  about  $29,000,  for  1878  to  about 
$25,500,  and  for  1879  to  about  $20,500.  For  some  years 
thereafter  it  hovered  at  about  $20,000 — a  sum  altogether 
inadequate. 


MONEY  TROUBLES  85 

The  first  evidences  that  the  University  was  hard  hit 
appeared  when  in  1876  the  Trustees  gave  notice  that 
beginning  the  fall  of  the  next  year  they  would  reduce 
salaries  ten  per  cent.  Against  this  reduction  Gregory 
promptly  protested.  Supply  and  demand,  he  said, 
regulated  the  price  of  academic  labor  as  of  all  other, 
and  two  professors  had  already  been  offered  better 
pay  elsewhere.  He  wished  the  Board  to  apply  to  the 
Legislature,  as  Wisconsin  and  Michigan  had  done  in 
similar  instances,  and  he  offered  to  give  up  one-fourth 
his  own  salary  to  save  his  colleagues.  But  a  committee 
stubbornly  reported  that  a  reduction  was  unavoidable, 
as  the  deficit  for  the  next  year  promised  to  reach  $3,500. 
The  salaries  of  professors  were  therefore  cut  to  $1,800, 
and  that  of  the  Regent  to  $3,600,  while  other  economies 
were  effected.  In  1877  the  State  appropriated  $69,000 
for  the  biennium  for  extraordinary  expenses,  but  none 
for  other,  and  this  fact  nullified  another  protest  by 
Gregory.  He  pointed  to  the  loss  of  Prof.  Robinson,  and 
declared  his  conviction  that  "the  University  can  never 
be  maintained  in  full  power  and  standing  at  the  present 
rate  of  salaries,  a  rate  not  only  lower  than  the  State  Uni- 
versities and  other  reputable  institutions  around  us  pay, 
but  lower  even  than  is  paid  at  the  State  Normal  Schools." 
The  Trustees  did,  indeed,  appoint  successively  two  more 
committees  on  the  matter.  One  differed  sharply  from 
the  Regent  upon  the  advisability  of  a  categorical  demand 
upon  the  Legislature  for  the  money  needed  for  main- 
tenance, and  for  establishing  new  professorships  in 
physics  and  history,  urgently  needed,  and  it  refused 
to  sanction  an  elevation  of  salaries  to  their  old  mark. 
The  other  disapproved,  in  1879,  of  any  increase  in  term 
fees,  and  also  of  any  application  for  the  recovery  of  the 
college  and  seminary  funds,  as  the  latter  would  antag- 


86         BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

onize  the  normal  schools  which  had  received  them.  But 
it  heard  with  more  favor  a  third  suggestion  which 
Gregory  had  made — that  the  State  be  asked  for  a 
permanent  tax  grant. 

In  this  posture  stood  financial  affairs  when  Gregory 
left.  The  suggestion  for  a  tax  grant,  inspired  by  the 
success  of  Wisconsin  in  obtaining  a  levy  of  one-tenth 
mill  for  her  benefit,  came  to  nothing.  In  1879  the  State 
appropriation  was  but  $25,500.  As  a  measure  of  des- 
peration, at  the  end  of  that  year  term  fees  were  made 
$22.50  annually — practically  the  present  tuition.  Some 
of  the  last  utterances  of  Gregory  reflect  a  deep  discour- 
agement. The  University,  he  thought,  was  already  grind- 
ing between  two  millstones ;  for  at  least  one  professor  the 
salary  paid  was  insufficient  for  his  family 's  comfortable 
support.  In  a  dozen  years  the  institution  had  attained 
a  larger  growth  than  had  Harvard  in  two  hundred,  or 
Michigan  in  twenty-five,  and  now  not  only  its  plans  for 
the  future  had  to  be  surrendered,  but  some  of  the 
ground  it  had  gained.  He  especially  deplored  the  fact 
that  the  teachers  were  so  burdened  with  routine  labor 
that  they  had  no  time  for  the  study  and  research  that 
alone  could  make  them  great  scholars,  A  University, 
he  pointed  out,  is  a  place  where  knowledge  is  discovered 
and  perfected,  as  well  as  a  center  for  its  dissemination, 
and  is  marked  by  the  presence  of  men  of  talent  and 
learning  as  investigators;  Illinois  must  give  up  hope  of 
becoming  such  an  institution  till  she  should  be  more 
generously  treated. 

Yet  despite  all  the  hardships  of  the  University,  all 
the  limitations  upon  its  work,  it  must  not  be  thought 
that  even  at  this  time  it  was  a  place  of  anything  but  the 
hopefulness  and  self-confidence  that  go  so  naturally  with 
high  ambitions.     The  Regent  and  faculty  felt  them- 


FACULTY  OPTIMISM  87 

selves  apostles  of  a  great  movement  of  progress  and 
reform  in  education,  and  took  a  pride  of  which  it  is 
now  hard  to  conceive  in  the  feeling  that  they  were  usher- 
ing in  a  new  scientific  and  industrial  education.  They 
felt  themselves  privileged  and  distinguished  as  initiators 
for  the  State  of  Illinois  of  a  much  broader  instruction 
than  had  before  been  known.  This  same  spirit  so 
animated  the  student  body  that  there  was  manifest  in 
the  classroom  and  shop  an  energy,  hopefulness,  and 
self-satisfaction  that  now  seems  strangely  at  variance 
with  the  physical  conditions  under  which  the  work  was 
done.  The  promise  and  vigor  were  those  of  the  sprout- 
ing seeds  of  a  unique  new  growth;  the  teachers  con- 
sidered themselves  missionaries  and  exemplars  of  a 
fresh  educational  gospel;  they  felt  at  liberty  beyond 
all  precedent  to  enter  upon  and  cultivate  new  fields — as 
did  the  teachers  of  some  other  Middle  Western  institu- 
tions at  the  same  time.  In  the  face  of  financial  and 
other  discouragements  their  exaltation  and  faith  in  the 
future  only  intermittently  faltered,  either  during  the 
administration  of  Gregory  or  that  of  his  successor;  the 
institution  as  a  whole  was  in  one  sense,  and  a  real  one, 
depressed,  but  never  most  of  its  leaders. 

The  University  was  not  strong  enough  to  be  more 
than  an  abject  and  ineffective  suppliant  of  the  Legisla- 
ture; yet  it  was  straining  every  point  in  its  eagerness 
to  serve  the  commonwealth.  Nowhere  is  this  better 
shown  than  in  the  care  with  which  it  adjusted  its  en- 
trance requirements  to  the  poor  high  schools  of  Illinois. 
The  early  requirements  were  themselves  merely  those 
of  a  secondary  school,  though  some  gap  between  the 
University  and  the  grammar  schools  existed,  and  this 
was  bridged  by  informal  preparatory  courses.  Gregory 
shortly  recommended  that  in  the  fall  of  1872  students 


88        BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

be  examined  in  physics  and  physiology  as  new  subjects, 
and  in  the  spring  of  that  year  he  asserted  that  not  only 
many  ill-prepared  students  were  entering,  but  many 
who  had  not  tested  their  ability  to  study.  To  continue 
in  lower  work  would  but  add  an  expensive  high  school 
to  the  State's  charges,  and  he  recommended  that  a  pro- 
gram of  successive  advances  be  adopted.  In  1873,  thanks 
mainly  to  a  new  law  upon  the  teaching  of  science  in  the 
common  schools,  physics,  physiology,  botany,  and  algebra 
were  added  to  the  older  elementary  requirements,  but 
even  yet  deficient  students  were  allowed  to  enter  and 
"make  up"  their  inadequacies.  By  this  time,  also,  cer- 
tain colleges  required  special  preparation — that  of  nat- 
ural science  demanding  zoology,  for  example,  and  the 
school  of  ancient  languages  elementary  Latin  and 
Greek. 

The  University's  chief  efforts  at  the  strengthening  of 
matriculants,  however,  lay  in  the  provision  of  the 
preparatory  school  in  1876,  and  its  adoption  of  the 
accrediting  system  two  years  later.  Only  one  year  of 
preparatory  work  was  offered,  but  it  included  instruc- 
tion in  eight  subjects;  and  thenceforth  even  entrants 
in  agriculture  were  asked  to  pass  satisfactory  examina- 
tions in  the  essentials  of  this  year.  The  students  were 
charged  fees  of  $45  per  annum,  which  covered  the  ex- 
pense of  hiring  teachers,  and  the  innovation  thus  re- 
lieved the  University  of  the  burden  of  free  instruction 
in  the  lower  branches.  An  attempt  by  Gregory  to  have 
the  department  discontinued  after  1881  was  blocked  by 
its  manifest  indispensability.  As  for  the  accredited 
schools,  they  were  in  that  day  of  two  sorts.  One,  of 
which  Gregory  hoped  to  find  a  representative  in  each 
county,  was  simply  a  school  whose  examination  was  ac- 
cepted in  lieu  of  the  University's,  and  which  therefore 


EXTENSION  ACTIVITY  89 

saved  the  students  the  expense  of  a  long  journey.  The 
other,  inspected  by  the  faculty,  was  a  school  whose 
graduates  were  admitted  Avithout  examination.  The 
lists  of  both  grew  rapidly,  and  tended  to  become  in 
practice  expressive  of  the  same  standards.  In  1880  they 
totaled  forty,  and  Gregory,  who  had  visited  many,  was 
convinced  that  the  system  placed  the  University  in  due 
connection  with  the  public  schools. 

The  University 's  extension  activities  were  limited,  but 
in  agriculture  were  fairly  popular.  After  the  collapse 
of  the  plans  for  the  corresponding  secretary's  office, 
these  centered  in  the  course  of  public  lectures  and  dis- 
cussions modeled  on  the  Yale  agricultural  lectures  of 
1860.  The  first  was  held  at  the  University  ten  months 
after  it  opened,  with  visiting  experts  and  the  pro- 
fessors speaking  on  such  topics  as  ''Chemistry  and 
Agriculture ' '  and  * '  Agricultural  Bookkeeping. ' '  There- 
after these  University  institutes  were  arranged  for  in 
dozens  of  places  over  the  State — seven  in  one  year — the 
professors  heavily  reinforcing  local  speakers.  But  after 
1873  the  University  cared  less  to  promote  them,  for  the 
professors  were  overworked  and  the  State  appropria- 
tions for  them  dwindled;  faculty  members  merely  put 
in  an  occasional  appearance  at  the  Farmers'  Institutes, 
though  leading  farmers  repeatedly  expressed  a  desire  to 
see  the  University  discussions  reestablished.  The  Uni- 
versity was  otherwise  represented  outside  only  by  the 
speeches  of  Gregory  and  others  at  public  meetings  and 
high  school  commencements.  So,  also,  the  influence  of 
the  alumni  was  small.  The  male  undergraduates  were 
evenly  divided  among  engineering,  farming,  mercantile 
pursuits,  and  the  law  and  medicine;  and  women  were 
admitted  too  late  to  have  any  influence  upon  the  schools 
as  teachers. 


90        BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

Student  life  at  the  struggling  institution,  of  course, 
had  the  natural  breath  of  democracy.  The  undergradu- 
ates were  almost  without  exception  poor,  in  that  young 
State  they  could  have  little  conception  of  social  dis- 
tinctions, and  the  doimitory  and  the  atmosphere  of 
"industrial"  instruction  fostered  complete  comradeship. 
From  the  moment  of  arrival  they  lived  in  an  intimacy 
and  with  an  informality  now  hard  to  realize.  They 
filled  their  bedticks  with  straw  At  the  college  farm ;  they 
"bached  it"  by  cooking  their  own  meals,  which  con- 
sisted mainly  of  buckwheat  cakes  and  Indian  pudding, 
thus  cutting  the  cost  of  board  to  seventy-five  cents  a 
week.  And  love  of  equality  was  even  one  of  the  chief 
factors  in  killing  the  manual  labor  plan,  introduced  from 
such  older  institutions  as  Michigan  by  the  enthusiastic 
Gregory.  It  was  thought  that  efficiency  could  be  secured 
only  by  having  the  labor  performed  in  small  parties, 
each  directed  by  a  cadet  officer;  but  to  work  under  a 
foreman  who  sat  by  and  watched  did  not  appeal  to 
Illinois  youths.  A  little  more  insight  might  have  taught 
the  students  that  true  democracy  dictated  their  support 
of  the  plan,  for  it  was  anticipated  that  they  could  partly 
pay  their  way  by  working  one  to  two  hours  a  day, 
except  week-ends,  according  to  the  season,  at  a  maximum 
of  a  "bit"  an  hour.  It  was  also  hoped  that  it  would 
maintain  student  health,  and  give  valuable  training  to 
town-bred  youths.  But  in  any  event  there  would  not 
have  been  enough  work  to  go  around,  for  after  the  first 
fences  and  walks  were  built,  and  gardens  laid  out,  there 
was  little  to  do.  In  Kentucky  a  wagon  manufactory 
had  been  opened  at  the  University,  but  Illinois  workmen 
would  have  nothing  of  the  sort,  and  Gregory  had  first 
to  give  up  the  compulsory  features  of  his  plan,  and 


THE  COLLEGE  GOVERNMENT  91 

finally,  as  had  the  heads  of  other  institutions,  to  sur- 
render it  altogether. 

The  chief  organizations  of  the  student  body  were  the 
literary  societies  and  the  College  Government;  and  the 
latter  was  also  one  of  the  pet  schemes  of  the  fertile- 
minded  Eegent.  Organized  in  1870,  upon  a  plan  largely 
prepared  by  Dr.  Gregory,  it  followed  the  general  out- 
lines of  the  Federal  Government,  having  President, 
Senate,  Assembly,  Supreme  Court,  Sheriff,  and  Prose- 
cuting Officer.  Its  chief  functions  were  (besides  giving 
the  members  a  pleasant  sense  of  political  activity)  to 
drill  the  students  in  parliamentary  practice,  and  to 
enforce  order  upon  the  campus.  The  four  ''precincts" 
were  policed  by  men  appointed  by  a  Marshal,  and  mis- 
demeanors were  punished  by  a  series  of  fines,  mainly 
small.  No  students  were  allowed  to  shout  or  play  during 
study  hours,  or  to  whistle,  sing,  or  dance.  Eesidents  in 
the  dormitory  were  not  to  set  their  slop-pails  in  the 
hall,  or  sweep  their  rooms,  in  daylight.  Students 
caught  in  possession  of  liquor,  or  entering  a  saloon, 
billiard  hall,  or  bowling  alley,  were  fined  $1  to  $5,  and 
those  damaging  University  property  might  even  be  fined 
$25 — then  a  breath-taking  sum.  Gregory  believed  im- 
plicitly that  the  Government  assisted  greatly  in  disci- 
pline, though  it  was  probably  valuable  mainly  as  an 
amusement.  Elsewhere  college  presidents  at  about  the 
same  time  believed  that  similar  plans  would  revolu- 
tionize undergraduate  government. 

The  first  cases  before  the  Supreme  Court  were  merely 
those  of  careless  or  boisterous  students ;  but  in  January, 
1872,  arose  a  cause  celehre.  Some  terms  previously  the 
first  fraternity,  a  chapter  of  Delta  Tau  Delta,  had  been 
secretly  started  at  the  University ;  and  its  members  had 
gained  control  of  the  College  Government  and  resolved 


92        BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

to  measure  their  strength  with  the  faculty.  They  found 
an  excuse  when  in  Gregory's  absence  the  acting  Regent 
instructed  the  student  choir  to  practice  in  hours  sacred 
to  study;  and  hauling  the  choir  into  court,  summarily 
fined  its  members,  and  ordered  them  not  to  repeat  the 
offense.  The  choir  appealed  to  the  faculty,  and  was 
supported  by  Gregory  upon  his  return,  receiving  in- 
structions to  pay  no  attention  to  the  Government. 
Hereupon  the  wrathful  officers  called  a  general  student 
assembly,  and  carried  through  it  resolutions  threatening 
to  disband  the  Government  unless  its  action  was  sus- 
tained ;  and  as  the  faculty  refused  this  support,  another 
assembly  four  days  later  announced  that  the  Govern- 
ment was  automatically  at  an  end  unless  the  Regent 
retired  from  his  position.  The  whole  was  a  piece  of 
parliamentary  fencing  in  which  the  students  took  a 
jesting  delight,  but  it  had  features  that  were  distinctly 
alarming  to  Dr.  Gregory.  He  was  on  the  point  of  leav- 
ing for  the  East  to  deliver  a  lecture  before  some  educa- 
tional association  on  the  merits  and  success  of  the  Col- 
lege Government  system,  and  he  saw  himself  in  a  pain- 
fully false  position.  At  once,  therefore,  he  had  another 
student  assembly  called,  before  which  both  himself  and 
Judge  Cunningham  appeared,  and  at  which  the  latter 
was  asked  to  deliver  a  judicial  opinion.  He  decided  that 
the  Government  was  in  the  right,  the  faculty  paid  the 
choir's  fines,  and  Gregory  departed  eastward  with  an 
easy  heart. 

The  further  history  of  the  College  Government  was 
one  chiefly  of  spirited  elections  and  of  wrangles  over 
constitutional  changes.  The  balloting  for  officers  took 
place  some  ten  days  after  the  opening  of  school,  and  this 
brief  period  was  filled  with  hurried  electioneering  and 
political  maneuvering.     For   example,  in  the  fall  of 


LITERARY  SOCIETIES  93 

1874  the  entire  strength  of  the  senior  class  was  employed 
to  prevent  the  choice  to  any  office  of  James  R.  Mann, 
later  minority  leader  in  Congress,  and  then  very  pop- 
ular among  juniors  and  sophomores.  In  the  submission 
of  tickets,  they  saw  to  it  that  Mann  was  put  up  for 
both  presidency  and  prosecuting  attorneyship,  with  the 
expectation  of  seeing  his  vote  split;  and  when  Mann's 
supporters  promptly  filed  an  irregular  ticket  in  which 
he  stood  for  prosecuting  attorney  alone,  they  circulated 
an  injurious  story  that  he  had  announced  without  au- 
thority his  opponent's  withdrawal  from  the  contest  for 
the  office,  and  so  defeated  him.  Now  and  then  the  Gov- 
ernment took  action  on  some  matter  of  University  policy, 
as  when  in  1878  it  resolved  that  since  the  institution 
was  the  only  school  in  Illinois  worthy  the  name  of  Uni- 
versity, and  since  ''the  name  Industrial"  detracted  from 
its  usefulness,  they  asked  the  Trustees  to  call  it  the 
State  University.  Three  years  later  the  students  voted 
237  to  20  for  changing  the  name.  In  the  latter*  days  of 
the  Government  women  took  an  increasing  part  in  its 
activities,  and  in  1879  one  girl  even  ran  for  the  presi- 
dency, but  was  badly  defeated. 

The  literary  societies  were  organized  during  March, 
1869,  by  Gregory,  who  in  chapel  proposed  two  such 
organizations,  calling  the  roll  and  dividing  the  student 
body  into  equal  parts  for  them.  Named  Adelphic  and 
Philomathean,  from  the  first  there  was  the  keenest 
rivalry  between  them,  not  only  in  oratory  and  debate, 
but  in  the  election  of  class  and  College  Government  of- 
ficers. A  girls'  society,  the  Alethenai,  was  added  two 
years  later.  Each  of  the  men's  societies  held  an  ora- 
torical contest  annually,  the  orations  being  original; 
each  held  an  open  meeting,  where  such  classic  declama- 
tions as  ''Rienzi's  Address  to  the  Romans"  and  "The 


94        BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

Execution  of  Montrose ' '  were  delivered  with  spirit ;  and 
there  was  an  intersoeiety  contest,  where  more  original 
efforts,  as  on  "Chinese  Immigration,"  "The  Necessity 
for  Education  in  a  Republic,"  and  "Battles,  Their 
Causes  and  Influence,"  held  the  boards.  Musical  num- 
bers were  also  given,  and  in  the  late  spring  a  grand 
concert  was  held  under  the  auspices  of  the  three  so- 
cieties. They  gave  picnics,  and  were  the  center  of  all 
the  social  activities  of  the  University.  The  junior  and 
sophomore  "exhibitions"  of  the  time  differed  little  from 
the  contests  of  the  societies,  save  that  they  included  such 
purely  literary  forms  as  the  essay,  allegory,  poem,  and 
even  short  play.  With  these,  with  the  class-day  exer- 
cises, with  the  contests  (after  1874)  of  the  I.  I,  U. 
Oratorical  Association,  and  with  the  commencements,  at 
which  each  student  spoke,  forensic  exercises  did  not 
languish  at  the  University. 

Undergraduate  publications  were  not  yet  important. 
The  first  was  the  Student,  an  eight-page  monthly 
founded  in  the  fall  of  1871  by  the  senior  class,  which 
was  far  more  an  agent  in  education  than  a  news  period- 
ical or  representative  of  student  sentiment.  Editors 
were  appointed  for  five  departments,  and  they — "vvith 
faculty  advice — filled  the  columns  with  ambitiously  con- 
ceived and  expressed  essays  on  formal  topics.  Stray 
news  items  fell  into  cramped  quarters  on  the  first  page, 
and  there  were  recorded  with  Spartan  brevity  the  first 
athletic  contests  at  the  University — the  battles  of  a 
student  team  with  a  Twin  City  baseball  club.  Short 
editorials  were  soon  added,  and  we  find  these  protesting 
against  the  Joseph's  coat  appearance  of  the  regiment, 
denouncing  the  demoralizing  influence  of  an  exhibition 
by  Forepaugh's  circus  just  east  of  the  campus,  and 
recorajnending  that  the  Regent  permit  use  of  the  drill 


THE  ILLINI  95 

hall  for  dancing.  But  the  Student's  long  articles  on 
"Turbine  Wheels,"  ''Man's  Depravity,"  and  ''The 
Common  Potato,"  appearing  under  a  quotation  from 
Irving  which  proclaimed  that  in  America  the  elegant 
arts  grow  up  side  by  side  with  the  coarser  plants  of 
daily  necessity,  roused  a  revolt.  We  can  better  its  con- 
tents by  consulting  an  encyclopedia,  complained  the 
correspondents;  why  doesn't  it  retail  the  numberless 
incidents  which  happen  in  chapel,  library,  recitation 
and  society  rooms,  and  on  the  military  field  and  play- 
ground, with  a  full  column  of  personal  notes?  And  in 
December,  1873,  the  Student  perished. 

The  next  month  saw  the  appearance  of  the  Illini,  a 
monthly  at  $1.50  a  year,  under  the  control  of  four  ap- 
pointees of  the  College  Government.  It,  too,  had  to 
wrestle  against  learning  and  formal  literature,  for  the 
first  issue  contained  an  article  upon  thermometry  in 
clinical  investigations,  and  it  continued  the  deadly  es- 
says upon ' '  Criticism, "  "  Labor, "  "  Business  Integrity, ' ' 
and  so  on,  obviously  reprints  of  the  papers  read  by 
sophomores  and  upper-classmen  in  chapel.  But  from 
the  outset  it  contained  more  local  news,  while  in  1877 
the  literary  matter  was  sharply  cut  down,  and  a 
pungent  editorial  struck  at  the  faculty  insistence  upon 
"the  stolid,  hide-bound  character"  of  the  paper.  The 
movement  proceeded  apace,  and  two  years  later*  another 
editor  reduced  the  space  for  the  literary  articles  from 
fourteen  to  eight  pages.  In  1880,  under  a  senior  who 
later  became  an  editor  of  the  Chicago  Daily  News,  the 
Illini  appeared  as  a  semi-monthly,  in  the  most  attrac- 
tive dress  it  had  yet  borne — a  rough  facsimile  of  the 
Nation.  There  were  twelve  four-column  pages,  and  the 
fresh  and  vigorous  editorials  held  the  first  three  or  four. 
The  editor  displaced  a  large  part  of  the  remaining  lit- 


96        BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

erary  matter  with  seven  columns  of  local  news,  a 
column  of  humor  headed  ' '  Knickknacks, "  and  ex- 
change news.  The  heavier  matter  consisted  to  some  ex- 
tent of  travel  sketches  and  verse  by  the  faculty. 

The  first  fraternity,  Delta  Tau  Delta,  was  organized 
at  the  University  in  1871-72.  The  face  of  the  faculty 
was  set  against  any  such  organizations,  and  Dr.  Gregory 
warned  the  students  against  them  yearly;  so  it  is  not 
strange  that  the  officers  did  not  get  proof  of  its  exist- 
ence till  1875-76,  though  the  student  body  had  sus- 
pected its  existence  long  before.  Jealousy  of  it  by  most 
students  had  already  asserted  itself,  and  in  1876  Dr. 
Gregory  took  the  matter  before  the  Trustees.  Fraterni- 
ties he  denominated  as  undemocratic,  anachronistic, 
silly,  and  conducive  to  dissipation,  while  he  was  espe- 
cially opposed  to  them  on  the  ground  that  they  would 
interfere  with  the  experiment  in  student  government. 
A  resolution  of  condemnation  was  passed  by  the  Board. 
Nevertheless,  the  chapter  for  some  time  lived  on  sur- 
reptitiously and  vigorously. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  seventies  it  was  apparent  to 
any  observer  that  the  cares  of  his  position  were  telling 
on  Dr.  Gregory.  He  was  as  much  as  ever  the  life  and 
center  of  the  University.  But  in  1873  a  hostile  legis- 
lative element  had  reduced  the  number  of  Trustees  from 
thirty-eight  to  eleven,  and  had  deprived  the  Eegent  of 
his  place  on  the  Board;  so  that  though  he  appeared 
regularly  at  Board  meetings,  and  though  the  Governor 
often  accepted  his  recommendation  concerning  the  ap- 
pointment of  Trustees,  his  wishes  in  administrative 
matters  were  more  easily  thwarted.  He  could  never 
obtain  the  Board's  full  support  in  his  requests  for  public 
grants.    And  more   than   any   opposition,   the   public 


GREGORY'S  RESIGNATION  97 

apathy  in  regard  to  the  University  galled  him.  During 
the  latter  part  of  his  administration,  when  the  colleges 
of  the  State  were  forming  an  association,  the  head  of 
one  protested  against  admitting  the  University  as  not  a 
true  institution  of  higher  learning  at  all.  It  is  saia 
that  one  of  the  Governors  told  Gregory,  when  the  latter 
was  presenting  the  claims  of  the  University,  that  nothing 
could  be  done,  adding:  "The  State  washes  its  hands  of 
the  whole  damned  thing."  Many  people  in  Illinois 
had  never  heard  of  the  institution,  and  the  majority 
regarded  it  as  a  queer  and  unsuccessful  attempt  at  State 
vocational  training.  Worries  concerning  financial  mat- 
ters, too,  were  constant;  even  one  of  the  janitors,  re- 
buked for  profanity,  retorted,  '  *  What  do  you  expect  for 
$35  a  month,  Doctor?"  The  Regent's  health  was  not 
of  the  best,  for  his  incessant  labors  told  on  his  con- 
stitution. 

In  all,  he  began  by  1880  to  be  thoroughly  tired  of  his 
position,  and  to  long  for  a  new  field.  This  feeling  was 
intensified  by  the  consciousness  that  he  was  no  longer 
held  in  the  old  worshipful  regard  by  the  students.  To 
this  loss  in  esteem,  which  might  well  have  proved  very 
temporary,  his  frequent  absences  from  the  University 
and  absorption  in  administrative  cares  contributed. 
Even  his  brilliant  chapel  talks,  by  dint  of  much  repeti- 
tion, palled  upon  them.  The  climax  came  in  the  spring 
of  1880,  in  the  ''first  military  rebellion,"  evoked  by  a 
faculty  resolution  which  laid  down  some  new  rules  for 
the  regulation  of  military  classes  and  appointments, 
and  in  particular  one  that  no  student  should  be  recom- 
mended for  a  State  commission  unless  he  was  conspicu- 
ous for  excellence  in  scholarship  and  gentlemanly  con- 
duct; and  that  these  recommendations  should  not, 
without  unanimous  faculty  vote,  exceed  five  in  one  year. 


98       BEGINNINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

The  ■upper-classmen  felt  that  this  did  them  an  injus- 
tice, for  they  had  entered  the  military  department  under 
other  rulings;  and  they  promptly  took  steps  to  with- 
draw from  their  posts  in  the  batallion.  The  rebellion 
was  finally  crushed,  but  it  kept  the  University  in  a 
turmoil  all  the  winter  term,  and  though  its  nature 
might  easily  be  exaggerated,  it  was  expressive  of  no 
little  general  discontent.  Partly  as  a  result,  Gregory 
felt  that  he  no  longer  eared  to  remain  with  so  huge 
and  thankless  a  task,  and  to  the  general  regret  of  the 
faculty,  resigned  in  June.^ 

*  Gregory  told  the  Trustees  that  for  over  thirteen  years  he  had 
done  the  work  of  two  men,  and  that  now  the  University  had  at- 
tained permanency,  he  wished  to  seek  a  field  of  lighter  labor. 


Ill 

YEARS  OF  DEPRESSION:  THE  ADMINISTRA- 
TION OF  PEABODY 

The  Second  Regent.  The  University's  Continued  Poverty.  Want 
of  Elasticity  in  Organization  and  Spirit.  Slow  Progress  in  Build- 
ings, Equipment,  and  Registration.  The  Hatch  and  Morrill  Sup- 
plementary Acts.  Change  of  Name,  and  in  Constitution  of 
Board.  Dissatisfaction  with  Regent  and  Overthrow  by  Alumni. 
Development  of   Student  Life. 

Dr.  Gregory's  resignation  was  effective  September  1, 
1880,  and  till  next  March  Dr.  Selim  H.  Peabody,  pro- 
fessor of  mechanical  engineering  and  physics,  served  as 
Regent  pro  tempore,  when  he  was  elected  to  the  Regency. 
The  new  head  was  of  long  academic  experience.  After 
graduating  at  the  University  of  Vermont,  he  had  been 
superintendent  of  schools  at  Fond  du  Lac  and  Racine, 
Wisconsin,  had  long  taught  in  Chicago,  had  been  profes- 
sor of  physics  at  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College, 
and  had  served  as  secretary  to  the  Chicago  Academy  of 
Sciences.  When  in  1878  he  had  come  as  professor  to  the 
University,  he  had  produced  a  considerable  impression 
by  the  vigor  with  which  he  taught  his  classes  and  sys- 
tematized the  shop  work.  He  resigned  to  accept  the 
editorship  of  what  became  the  International  Encyclo- 
paedia, and  in  New  York  compiled  a  book  on  American 
patriotism,  but  was  almost  at  once  brought  back  to 
Illinois.  The  significant  fact  about  his  career,  however, 
was  that  by  far  the  greater  part  of  it  had  been  spent  in 
public  school  work.  It  was  in  1859  that  he  went  to  his 
first  Wisconsin  post,  and  not  till  1868  that  he  resigned 

99 


100  YEARS  OP  DEPRESSION 

as  director  of  the  evening  high  school  in  Chicago.  He 
was  above  all  else  an  educator  in  the  narrower  sense, 
drilled  in  the  educator's  routine.  His  training  had 
accentuated  methodical,  precise  traits  of  mind  that 
threw  him  into  contrast  with  Gregory,  sanguine, 
energetic,  inclined  to  dream  and  plan  in  a  large 
way. 

Dr.  Peabody  was  received  warmly  by  the  faculty,  and 
most  students,^  and  must  have  seemed  an  excellent  choice 
for  the  place.  He  was  physically  commanding,  his 
scholarship  was  high — he  had  a  doctorate  from  Ver- 
mont— and  he  knew  how  to  use  it,  and  though  as  a 
speaker  he  was  ineffective  beside  Gregory,  in  writing 
he  expressed  himself  well.  His  conception  of  the  func- 
tions of  the  University  was  much  what  Gregory's  had 
been,  for  while  he  quite  grasped  the  idea  of  the  founders, 
he  also  had  been  liberally  trained.  He  was  pro- 
ficient primarily  in  engineering  and  no  one  who  sat 
under  him  in  the  classroom  or  worked  in  his  laboratory 
could  fail  to  be  impressed  with  the  fact  that  his  knowl- 
edge here  was  thorough  and  that  he  had  a  rare  ability 
in  imparting  it — ^but  it  was  his  boast  that  if  necessary 
he  could  take  the  place  of  any  professor.  For  example, 
he  was  a  good  entomologist,  with  a  valuable  collection 
of  beetles.  Like  Gregory,  he  wished  to  keep  the  practical 
studies  in  the  foreground,  but  believed  that  if  a  farmer's 
son  tasted  a  little  Latin  it  would  do  him  no  harm. 
Finally,  he  was  the  model  of  industry  that  his  predeces- 
sor had  been,  with  this  difference — that  Gregory  had 

* "  In  the  first  place,"  said  Dr.  Peabody  in  later  recounting 
the  diflSculties  he  had  faced,  "many  of  the  students  looked 
askance  at  the  new  Regent,  part  because  he  was  not  Dr.  Gregory, 
part  because  he  was  not  Dr.  McCosh.  The  seniors  were  said  to 
have  held  a  meeting  to  determine  whether  they  would  return  or 
not,  but  kindly  consented  to  give  the  new  man  a  trial."  Yet  the 
JlUni  was  effusive  in  welcoming  him. 


STINGY  LEGISLATURES  101 

avoided  the  petty  minuti^  of  the  daily  round  to  apply 
himself  to  larger  things,  while  Dr.  Peabody  wrote  his 
letters  with  his  own  hand,  issued  all  class  permits,  and 
entered  all  class  grades.  In  this  he  betrayed  a  certain 
want  of  imagination  and  executive  grasp.  But  his  out- 
look upon  the  future  of  the  University  was  of  a  wholly 
different  kind  from  Gregory's,  in  that  he  cared  little 
for  expansion  but  much  for  perfection,  little  for  num- 
bers but  much  for  size  and  efficiency. 

He  was  fully  appreciative  of  the  desperate  character 
of  the  University's  finances,  and  perceived  the  necessity 
of  asking  the  State  to  assume  part  of  the  ordinary  ex- 
pense of  maintenance.  In  the  last  thirteen  years  the 
Legislature  had  appropriated  $350,000  for  buildings, 
taxes,  and  experiments,  but  not  a  cent  for  general  teach- 
ing purposes.  Peabody  brought  a  number  of  arguments 
to  bear  in  asking  through  the  Board  for  a  biennial 
operating  fund  of  $20,000.  He  recalled  the  fact  that 
when  the  University  opened,  the  teachers  were  young 
men  who  could  be  employed  for  little  pay  till  they  had 
made  their  reputations;  this  they  had  done,  yet  they 
were  paid  less  than  at  the  beginning.  The  institution 
was  fast  becoming  a  nursery  for  young  men,  who  were 
picked  off  by  older  and  richer  colleges  when  they  had 
shown  their  usefulness.  He  recalled  that  fees  could  not 
be  increased;  and  he  actually  succeeded  in  obtaining  a 
little  over  half  the  sum  asked,  or  $11,400.  In  1878  Iowa 
had  voted  an  annual  grant  of  $20,000  to  her  State  Uni- 
versity, in  1881  Ohio  State  University  first  received  an 
annual  appropriation  of  about  the  same  amount,  and  in 
1883  Indiana  University,  which  for  a  decade  had  re- 
ceived $15,000  yearly  to  supplement  its  current  funds, 
was  given  the  proceeds  of  a  half-mill  tax  for  twelve 
years  for  endowment. 


102  YEARS  OF  DEPRESSION 

There  is  no  disguising  the  penuriousness  of  the  Legis- 
lature, and  it  is  not  just  to  blame  Peabody  too  much  for 
his  later  failure  to  wring  more  money  from  it.  The 
institutions  named  were  older  than  Illinois,  as  were  the 
comparatively  prosperous  Wisconsin  and  Michigan,  and 
had  won  a  place  in  the  regard  of  many  legislators.  In 
Illinois  there  was  still  little  belief  in  popular  higher 
education,  and  economic  discontent  wrapped  Springfield 
in  an  atmosphere  of  economy.  The  price  of  farm  prod- 
ucts and  the  wages  of  labor  were  painfully  low.  Far 
and  wide  it  was  a  discouraging  decade  for  university 
men;  at  home  it  was  the  decade  in  which  the  old  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago  died  and  Northwestern  reached  a  low 
ebb.  Yet  as  after  this  hopeful  beginning  the  Uni- 
versity's financial  outlook  continued  painfully  narrow, 
its  friends  soon  came  to  regard  Peabody  as  partly  ac- 
countable. He  himself  remarked  that  if  the  State  gave 
the  value  of  one  ear  of  corn  for  every  four  acres  of 
grain  it  would  amount  to  more  than  his  receipts,  and 
he  knew  that  university  heads  in  weaker  States  were 
obtaining  larger  sums.  Yet  biennium  after  biennium 
he  went  to  the  capital  with  requests  that  proved  little 
more  than  those  made  by  the  normal  university.  An 
agent  of  the  latter,  later  to  become  President  of  the 
University,  once  reproached  the  Regent  for  his  lack  of 
courage,  and  was  at  once  suspected  of  trying  to  defeat 
his  modest  plans  by  making  them  unconscionably  large. 
The  best  of  efforts  might  have  failed,  but  in  time  more 
and  more  wished  for  a  larger  effort  to  be  made. 

The  State 's  contributions  were  kept  at  a  slowly  rising 
level  during  the  decade.  In  1883,  when  the  income  from 
endowment  had  fallen  to  a  beggarly  $16,000,  and  the 
deficit  threatened  to  be  nearly  that  much.  Dr.  Peabody 
obtained  a  biennial  grant  of  $54,000,  of  which  half  was 


STATE  APPROPRIATIONS  103 

for  current  expenses.  Not  for  eight  years  did  the  ap- 
propriations go  more  than  a  few  thousands  above  this 
figure;  they  then  reached  a  total  of  a  little  less  than 
$75,000,  although  $70,000  more  was  given  the  same  year 
for  a  natural  history  building.^  This  regular  stipend  was 
sufficient  to  admit  of  only  a  part  of  the  progress  for 
which  the  University's  friends  hoped.  Most  of  the 
salaries  were  early  restored  to  the  old  mark  of  $2,000 
for  professors,  some  equipment  was  purchased,  and  ad- 
ditions were  slowly  made  to  the  faculty.-  But  this  did 
not  spur  Peabody  to  ask  for  large  sums  specially  for 
growth ;  his  calculations  of  the  funds  needed  were  close 
estimates  of  requirements  on  the  existing  basis,  with 
perhaps  slight  additions,  until  almost  every  cent  could 
be  shown  to  be  so  necessary  that  it  was  difficult  for  the 
Legislature  to  make  cuts.  Under  him  steady  progress 
was  possible,  but  not  advances  by  leaps  and  bounds. 
For  such  advances  the  University  was  not  ready  in 
1880  or  1885,  but  it  was  ready  in  the  last  years  of  his 
term.  There  was  hardly  a  want  of  pressure  upon  him, 
for  repeatedly  he  was  asked  by  the  faculty  to  transmit 
requests  for  more  pay  to  the  Trustees,  while  from  the 
alumni  came  protests  at  the  shabby  way  in  which  the 
State  was  treating  the  University.  Early  in  1888  a 
committee  of  the  Chicago  Alumni  Club  considered  means 

*  The  general  appropriations  for  the  different  bienniums  were : 
In  1881,  $41,300;  1883,  $54,500;  1885,  $53,500;  1887,  $54,500; 
1889,  $58,650,  and  in  1891,  $74,200.  In  1889,  $10,000  was  added 
for  a  drill  hall,  and  in  1891  $70,000  for  a  natural  history  build- 
ing. The  amounts  biennially  appropriated  for  current  expenses 
of  instruction  were,  for  the  six  bienniums:  $11,400,  $28,000, 
$24,000,  $32,000,  and  $40,000. 

'  Several  professors  earned  larger  incomes  by  holding  two  or 
more  positions  at  once:  e.  g..  Dr.  Burrill  was  a  professor,  was 
in  the  employ  of  the  experiment  station,  and  assisted  the  State 
Laboratory  of  Natural  History;  Shattuck  as  Business  Manager 
had  first  $300  and  then  $600  added  to  his  salary. 


104  YEARS  OF  DEPRESSION 

for  securing  more  generous  legislative  treatment  as  well 
as  for  inviting  the  notice  of  public-spirited  citizens  who 
might  give  to  the  University.  The  Club  stated  its  will- 
ingness to  spend  years  in  maturing  an  endowment  plan, 
but  the  move  came  to  nothing. 

Dr.  Peabody's  handling  of  the  University  budget  was 
conscientious  and  wise ;  at  the  very  outset  he  instituted 
an  improved  bookkeeping  system.  His  cautious  and 
methodical  traits  were  also  evident  in  the  attention  he 
gave  the  University's  invested  capital.  Soon  after  he 
took  his  chair  it  was  evident  that  immigration  into  Ne- 
braska was  greatly  increasing  the  value  of  the  9,000 
acres  of  University  lands  there.  One  bid  of  ten  dollars 
an  acre  was  made,  but  not  accepted.  By  judicious  man- 
agement, sales  conducted  during  the  next  six  years 
brought  in  a  total  of  $155,000,  or  enough  to  raise  the 
endowment  to  almost  $475,000.  The  Regent  expressed 
natural  regret  that  the  University  did  not  own  a  hun- 
dred thousand  acres;  though  of  course  the  same  rea- 
sons that  made  proper  the  sale  of  1885  of  lands  that 
would  have  brought  much  more  in  1900  had  made 
proper  the  sale  in  1870  of  tracts  worth  much  more 
fifteen  years  later.^ 

The  turning  point  in  the  University  finances  came 
less  through  State  than  through  Federal  appropria- 
tions, carried  by  two  measures :  the  Hatch  Act  of  1887 
for  agricultural  experiment  stations,  and  the  Morrill 
Supplementary  Act  of  1890.  The  first  was  a  fruit  of 
the  efforts  of  an  association  of  the  land  grant  colleges 

*  Trustee  Emory  Cobb  had  been  an  advocate  of  the  policy  of 
locating  and  holding  as  much  of  the  land  scrip  as  possible; 
the  Board  at  first  proposed  to  do  this  with  50,000  acres,  but  the 
pressure  for  funds  was  too  great.  Cobb  even  undertook  to 
organize  a  syndicate  to  hold  tlie  land,  but,  among  other  obstacles, 
a  public  cry  of  "  land-grabbing "  defeated  this  excellent  scheme. 


FEDERAL  APPROPRIATIONS  105 

which  Dr.  Peabody  was  prominent  in  helping  form  in 
1882,  and  which  met  annually  thereafter.  This  asso- 
ciation persuaded  Senator  Cullom,  of  Illinois,  to  intro- 
duce a  bill  in  1885  for  Federal  assistance  to  agricultural 
research,  but  it  failed  in  the  House.  At  a  later  Con- 
gressional session,  a  committee  composed  of  Presidents 
Atherton  of  Pennsylvania  State  College  (who  had  been 
at  Illinois  and  was  its  most  effective  member),  Willets 
of  the  University  of  Michigan,  and  Lee  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Mississippi  pressed  a  similar  measure,  with 
the  result  that  $15,000  was  made  available  annually  for 
each  experiment  station.  But  of  much  greater  impor- 
tance was  the  Morrill  Supplementary  Act,  also  sup- 
ported by  the  association,  for  it  carried  a  larger  sum — 
$15,000  the  first  year,  and  $1,000  more  annually  till 
$25,000  was  reached — and  it  was  applicable  to  all  the 
branches  taught  in  the  land  grant  institutions  in  any 
way  bearing  upon  the  industries,  even  English  and 
economics  being  named.  There  was  something  pathetic 
in  the  joy  mth  which  this  appropriation  was  received 
by  the  half-starved  University.  Peabody  was  at  once 
for  taking  precautions  lest  it  be  made  an  excuse  by  the 
Legislature  for  cutting  off  its  wonted  aid.  If  the  funds 
were  not  put  into  immediate  and  active  use,  he  warned 
the  Trustees,  if  the  machinery  of  the  University  were 
not  enlarged  to  utilize  them  at  once,  there  was  danger 
that  the  State  grants  would  be  diminished  by  an  equal 
amount.  He  had  the  whole  equipment  of  the  University 
scrutinized,  and  he  himself  made  ten  main  recommenda- 
tions for  expenditures. 

Though  the  development  of  the  curriculum  under 
Peabody  was  slow,  though  he  himself  said  in  1888  that 
* '  the  period  has  been  marked  by  no  large  undertakings, '  * 
there  was  a  creditable  steadiness  about  it,  particularly 


106  YEARS  OF  DEPRESSION 

after  1885.  This  was  exhibited  by  the  increase  in  the 
faculty.  When  he  entered  office  there  were  (1881) 
fifteen  professors  and  six  assistants  or  instructors.  In 
1885-86  there  were  seventeen  of  professorial  grade  and 
ten  such  subordinates.  In  1890-91  there  were  twenty- 
five  of  professorial  grade  and  fifteen  such  subordinates. 
Even  this  was  a  rudimentary  organization,  as  the  pre- 
ponderance of  professors  and  the  fact  that  the  Regent 
himself  long  taught  engineering  and  ''mental  science," 
shows,  but  it  represented  an  improvement.  In  the  in- 
struction was  manifest  a  growing  experience  and  matur- 
ity, though  salaries  showed  little  change.  Thus  in  1883 
most  professors  were  paid  $2,000  each  and  two  $1,500, 
while  the  Regent  had  but  $3,000,  his  salary  not  being 
restored  to  the  original  level  till  he  threatened  in  1886  to 
resign,  having  been  offered  the  presidency  of  Rose  Poly- 
technic Institute.  In  1892  ten  professors  were  receiving 
$2,000  a  year  and  seven  $1,500 — much  the  same  rate  as 
a  decade  before.  Peabody  often  spoke  of  the  inade- 
quacy of  the  scale,  but  it  remained  for  his  successor  to 
make  suggestions  for  its  increase  on  a  systematic 
plan. 

This  growth  in  numbers  of  the  faculty  body,  which 
Dr.  Peabody  described  in  1888  as  *'one  brotherhood, 
imbued  with  one  single  purpose,  striving  together  to 
show  how  each  may  most  surely  advance  the  interests  of 
the  science  which  he  loves  and  of  the  University  which 
he  serves,"  and  which  did  have  a  remarkable  esprit  de 
corps,  made  possible  the  formation  of  a  genuine  faculty 
community.  In  the  early  years  of  the  University  many 
members  had  built  themselves  homes  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  campus,  and  lived  there  in  an  isolated 
social  group — Regent  Gregory  and  Professors  Burrill, 
Shattuck,  Snyder,  Taft,  Rieker,  Weber,  Crawford,  and 


FACULTY  LIFE  107 

Baker  being  its  most  prominent  members.  This  group 
was  later  broken  up,  most  of  its  members  making  their 
residence  in  one  of  the  towns,  and  finding  friends  in 
their  own  near  vicinity  and  at  their  own  churches.  The 
citizens  of  the  towns  were  inclined  to  rate  the  faculty 
men  according  to  their  known  income,  and  to  look  upon 
them  as  a  worthy  but  dependent  class,  unable  to  make 
adequate  return  for  social  favors  and  to  be  treated  with 
a  veiled  condescension.  After  1885  the  unsatisfactory 
nature  of  this  mode  of  faculty  life,  with  the  improve- 
ment in  street  car  service  and  the  growth  of  the  Uni- 
versity, led  to  a  new  building  movement  near  the 
campus,  where  students  and  faculty  were  in  close  con- 
tact, centers  of  petty  trade  were  formed,  and  new- 
comers settled  as  a  matter  of  course.  In  the  new  com- 
munity fitter  social  standards  were  presently  established, 
based  on  culture,  personal  charm,  academic  distinction, 
length  of  service,  and  to  some  extent  on  executive  rank. 
Differences  of  income  were  largely  ignored,  social 
usages  were  rather  formal  but  simple  and  unassuming, 
and  a  feeling  of  democratic  comradeship  and  general 
good  will  grew  up  which  made  of  the  ''old  faculty" 
a  delightful  society,  remarkably  unified  and  harmoni- 
ous notwithstanding  its  diverse  origin.  In  this  faculty 
there  was  a  greater  cultural  enthusiasm  than  publica- 
tions or  research  would  indicate. 

At  the  beginning  of  Peabody's  term  there  were,  as 
before,  four  colleges — engineering,  natural  science,  agri- 
culture, and  literature  and  science.  The  college  of 
engineering  was  divided  into  three  schools — ^mechanical 
engineering,  architecture,  and  civil  engineering;  while 
in  natural  science  were  the  schools  of  chemistry  and 
natural  history,  and  in  literature  and  science  of  the 
ancient  and  modern  languages.     Three  years  later,  as 


108  YEARS  OF  DEPRESSION 

the  result  of  a  new  State  laAV  for  fitter  inspectors,  the 
school  of  mining  engineering  was  revived;  anticipating 
a  demand  for  trained  men,  the  University  invited  T.  B. 
Comstock,  of  Cornell,  to  take  the  professorship.  But 
this  was  the  only  new  school  added  before  1890.  En- 
largement of  the  course  of  study  had  to  lie  in  the 
enriching  of  the  old  divisions,  all  of  which,  even  to  art 
and  design,  were  retained. 

Thus  in  engineering  courses  in  electricity,  first  of- 
fered by  S.  "VV.  Stratton,  one  in  heat  engines,  one  in 
machine  drawing,  one  in  masonry  construction,  and  a 
variety  of  new  courses  in  arcliitecture  were  added  under 
Dean  Ricker.  In  natural  history  courses  were  added 
in  microscopy  and  biology.  The  chief  additions  in  lit- 
erature and  science  were  advanced  French  and  German, 
advanced  Latin  and  Greek,  philology,  and  composition 
and  elocution.  A  special  French  teacher  was  appointed, 
and  Snyder  relieved  of  this  branch,  wliile  the  coming 
of  Professors  Barton  and  Moss  in  1890-91  made  possible 
the  richer  offering  in  the  classics.  The  composition 
course,  which  brought  James  Brownlee  in  1885,  affected 
the  whole  University,  for  it  grew  out  of  Peabody  's  sense 
that  most  students,  especially  in  engineering  and  agri- 
culture, were  such  defective  writers  as  to  be  discredita- 
ble to  it.  Theme-writing  had  reached  only  a  few;  the 
literary  societies  enrolled  less  than  one-third  the  stu- 
dents, and  so  far  lacked  proper  control  that  errors  and 
mannerisms  were  as  likely  to  be  fostered  as  corrected 
by  them.  Brownlee 's  course  was  arranged  to  extend 
through  all  colleges  and  all  years,  each  class  being 
divided  into  manageable  sections  and  meeting  weekly. 
The  first  two  years  were  devoted  to  themes,  which,  were 
criticized  partly  in  public,  partly  in  private;  and  the 
last  two  to  elocution.    The  result,  it  was  thought,  was 


WEAKNESS  IN  LIBERAL  ARTS  109 

at  once  visible;  and  the  Regent  deserves  praise  for  per- 
ceiving that  all  graduates  should  have  a  thorough 
grounding  in  composition.  At  the  very  close  of  the  ad- 
ministration a  two  years'  arrangement  of  certain 
courses  in  philosophy  and  pedagogy  was  offered.  Only 
in  agriculture  did  the  curriculum  remain  unchanged. 

There  were  also  certain  of  Peabody's  instructional 
plans  which  came  to  nought.  He  constantly  wished, 
but  was  quite  unable,  to  institute  a  course  in  pharmacy, 
for  a  great  obstacle  to  it  existed  in  the  demand  of  the 
State  Board  of  Pharmacy  for  four  years  of  active  drug- 
store practice  as  a  prerequisite  for  a  license.  He  wished 
to  make  more  of  the  college  of  literature  and  science 
than  he  was  able,  for — apart  from  his  inability  to 
obtain  funds — he  rightly  attributed  its  low  state  to 
several  difficult  factors.  The  University  had  persist- 
ently weakened  it  by  keeping  the  entrance  require- 
ments low,  by  admitting  many  not  fitted  for  hard  col- 
lege work,  especially  women,  and  by  "tempering  the 
work  to  the  feebleness  of  the  lambs. ' '  In  other  colleges 
entrance  requirements  were  so  high  that  matriculants 
feared  the  examinations,  but  in  this  one  such  laxities 
as  the  permit  to  "make  up"  preparatory  Latin  after 
admission  remained.  Furthermore,  while  other  colleges 
were  given  laboratories  and  equipment,  this  one  was 
the  Ishmael  of  the  household.  And  the  tendency  over 
the  State  was  to  represent  the  literary  branches  as 
poorer  than  they  really  were.  Students  went  by  a 
traditional  impulse  to  the  established  seats  of  liberal 
training,  and  the  very  efforts  of  the  University  to  prove 
its  devotion  to  agriculture  threw  its  other  work  into 
a  bad  light.  The  school  of  mining  engineering,  again, 
despite  the  fitting  up  of  a  special  laboratory  in  1887, 


no  YEARS  OF  DEPRESSION 

failed  to  attract  students,  and  Prof.  Comstoek  soon 
after  disgustedly  left  his  place  vacant. 

Finally,  whatever  Dr.  Peabody's  attitude  towards 
special  work  for  women,  little  was  done  either  in  do- 
mestic science  or  calisthenics.  After  a  period  of  neglect, 
Miss  Allen's  place  was  handed  over  to  Mrs.  M.  A. 
Scovell,  wife  of  one  of  the  professors,  who  served  also 
as  ''Preceptress."  But  she  and  her  husband  soon  de- 
parted, and  as  funds  were  lacking,  a  substitute  was 
hard  to  find,  and  the  desire  of  the  women  for  the  work 
was  doubted,  it  was  given  up  entirely.  At  least  once 
the  women  asked  for  a  restoration  of  their  gymnasium, 
but  there  was  no  room  for  it,  and  Peabody  asserted 
that  the  health  of  the  girls — except  for  a  few  residents 
of  the  Twin  Cities  whose  parents  allowed  them  too  much 
Social  diversion — was  excellent.  However,  there  was  a 
general  feeling  that  the  social  atmosphere  of  the  Uni- 
versity was  not  one  in  which  women  could  take  great 
profit,  and  that  more  definite  attention  to  their  needs 
would  have  improved  it. 

The  growth  in  registration  under  Peabody  is  marked 
by  the  advance  from  352  students  in  1881-82  to  519  in 
1890-91,  these  figures  including  the  preparatory  depart- 
ment. For  a  time  attendance  actually  fell.  Five  years 
after  Peabody's  coming  it  had  dropped  to  332,  and  not 
till  1888-89  did  it  rise  above  400,  its  sudden  expansion 
by  nearly  thirty  per  cent,  being  traceable  to  a  new 
State  confidence.  During  the  decade  the  college  of 
agriculture  just  held  its  own,  and  that  of  literature 
and  science  did  not  quite  do  so.  The  great  increase 
was  in  engineering  and  in  science,  and  here  between 
1887  and  1891  it  was  nothing  less  than  phenomenal. 
About  the  former  year  Peabody  reported  that  so  large 
a   proportion   of   the   new   accessions   had   gone   into 


RISE  OF  ENGINEERING  111 

engineering  that  the  two  shops  were  crowded  to  capacity, 
while  the  upper  classes  had  neither  sufficient  tools  nor 
room.  Engineers  and  architects  were  then  in  constant 
demand  at  high  wages,  and  the  instruction  at  Illinois 
could  hardly  be  bettered  in  the  East.  In  architecture, 
for  example,  Illinois  was  still  one  of  only  four  reputable 
schools,  and  in  structural  work  easily  stood  first.  The 
very  rigor  of  the  courses  attracted  young  men  of  ear- 
nest parts.  Thus  when  Peabody  came  there  were  99 
students  of  engineering,  seven  years  later  there  were 
160,  and  when  he  departed,  252.  He  estimated  upon 
retiring  that  the  number  in  mechanical  engineering 
had  grown  one-half,  in  civil  engineering  had  nearly 
doubled  and  in  architecture  had  nearly  trebled.  The 
registration  in  science  was  kept  not  far  from  fifty  until 
the  last  two  years,  when  it  suddenly  rose  to  about 
ninety. 

The  poor  enrollment  in  agriculture  Peabody  explained 
upon  the  old  ground  that  there  was  no  demand  for 
agricultural  graduates.  The  autumn  before  he  resigned 
he  suggested  an  innovation — the  arrangement  of  an 
agricultural  preparatory  course  of  two  years.  It  was 
to  accept  boys  of  fifteen  or  over,  with  a  grammar  school 
education,  and  give  them  a  mixture  of  high  school  work 
and  farm  science;  the  students  to  rank  as  preparatory 
students  and  pay  the  same  fees.  This  he  thought  might 
lead  many  to  advanced  work  in  agriculture,  and  would 
remove  the  reproach  that  the  University  was  not  stoop- 
ing low  enough  to  meet  the  agricultural  classes.  Similar 
experiments  were  on  trial  at  the  Universities  of  Minne- 
sota and  Wisconsin,  and  Peabody  hoped  it  would  satisfy 
the  wants  of  many  farmers'  sons.  But  the  expectations 
pinned  on  it  came  to  nothing,  though  the  course  was 
tentatively  arranged;  and  the  success  of  the  college  had 


112  YEARS  OF  DEPRESSION 

to  wait  on  the  development  of  agricultural  science,  the 
growth  of  popular  sentiment,  and  the  choice  of  another 
dean  than  Morrow,  who  was  able  but  lacking  in  admin- 
istrative initiative.  Morrow  earnestly  devoted  him- 
self to  the  farmers'  institutes,  and  later  to  the  short 
course.^ 


One  notable  advance  in  standards  of  graduation  in 
Peabody's  time  consisted  in  the  elimination  of  the 
anachronistic  plan  of  graduating  students  by  a  "full 
certificate."  When  diplomas  had  first  been  instituted 
they  had  been  given  only  for  the  completion  of  definitely- 
mapped  courses;  but  Gregory  had  believed  strongly  in 
the  student's  right  to  choose  his  work  where  he  pleased, 
and  he  conceded  to  those  who  had  completed  four  years 
of  irregularly  elected  studies  a  graduation  by  certificate 
of  this  completion.  Peabody  carried  his  opposition  to 
the  elective  system  to  such  lengths  that  certain  deans 
were  at  much  pains  to  circumvent  his  unreasonable 
rules.  Moreover,  it  came  to  be  seen  that  when  students 
took  the  certificate  rather  than  the  degree  it  was  usually 
because  there  was  some  deficiency  in  their  work,  so 
that  it  served  as  a  detriment  to  sound  scholarship  and 
good  discipline.  Upon  the  Regent's  emphatic  recom- 
mendation, it  was  resolved  that  none  be  graduated  by 
certificate  after  1891.  The  number  of  graduates  under 
Peabody  varied  between  26  and  55  yearly,  with  an 
average  of  about  40 — one  fairly  creditable  to  the  small 
institution.  By  the  end  of  his  administration  nearly 
700  out  of  the  2,600  matriculated  since  1868  had  re- 

*  Pew  texts  could  yet  be  used  in  studying  agriculture.  Single 
lecture  courses  were  given  upon  The  Elements  of  Agriculture, 
Agricultural  Engineering  and  Architecture,  Animal  Husbandry, 
Rural  Economy,  History  of  Agriculture,  and  Rural  Law  (1888); 
durinor  Morrow's  frequent  absences  an  assistant,  Mr.  T.  F.  Hunt, 
took  his  place. 


■ 


o 
g 
S 

B 
o 

H 


P 
H 


EQUIPMENT  113 

ceived  diplomas  or  full  certificates.  Of  these,  according 
to  a  calculation  which,  took  no  account  of  teachers  or 
women  at  home,  50  per  cent,  were  engaged  in  technical 
pursuits,  9  per  cent,  in  agriculture,  27  per  cent,  in  the 
professions,  and  14  per  cent,  in  mercantile  occupations. 
Two  general  surveys  of  the  students  showed  conclusively 
that  ' '  at  least  three-fourths  come  from  families  that  are 
compelled  to  observe  a  sharper  economy  in  order  that 
the  son  or  daughter  may  go  to  college." 

There  was  very  little  building  done  during  the  decade, 
though  it  closed  with  the  substantial  achievement  of 
a  grant  for  a  drill  hall  and  a  natural  history  building, 
for  both  of  which  the  Regent  lobbied  actively.  Dr. 
Peabody's  administration  opened  with  the  demolition  of 
the  old  dormitory,  which  had  always  been  an  eyesore 
and  had  now  become  uninhabitable;  following  a  storm 
it  had  to  be  taken  apart  to  save  it  from  destruction 
by  the  students.  The  authorities  were  at  first  alarmed 
that  they  could  no  longer  advertise  accommodations, 
and  opened  an  agency  for  rooms  in  the  Twin  Cities, 
but  as  only  one-fourth  those  offered  were  taken,  a  men 's 
dormitory  was  never  again  proposed.  Gregory  had 
once  wished  that  the  University  had  never  been  bur- 
dened with  one,  and  by  now  there  was  a  considerable 
settlement  about  the  campus.  Up  to  1888  only  a  few 
minor  improvements  were  made.  Grounds  were  pur- 
chased constituting  the  present  sites  of  the  metal  shops 
and  Natural  History  Building,  and  the  arboretum  or 
botanical  garden  and  campus  or  "park"  fenced.^     A 

'  The  park  remained  rather  carefully  gardened  under  Dr.  Bur- 
rill's  direction.  We  learn  from  the  Illi7ii  that  part  of  the 
Bhrubbery  was  cut  into  figures  of  implements  or  animals  symbol- 
izing the  work  of  the  colleges.  The  shops  were  given  much 
new  machinery,  one  of  the  important  additions  being  a  large 
testing  machine  which  made  possible  the  opening  of  the  testing 
laboratory.    Electrical    apparatus    was    also    purchased    before 


114  YEARS  OF  DEPRESSION 

boiler  house  and  chimney  lifted  themselves  in  the  rear 
of  University  Hall,  a  blacksmith  shop  and  foundry  were 
erected,  a  testing  laboratory  was  opened,  and  an  indus- 
trial museum  was  begun  on  the  top  floor  of  University 
Hall.  As  for  the  Natural  History  Building,  its  plans 
were  largely  the  Regent's  own.  As  early  as  1886  the 
coming  of  the  State  Natural  History  Survey  inspired 
in  him  the  hope  for  such  a  building,  and  for  three  years 
he  studied  eligible  designs  wherever  he  could  find  them, 
finally  settling  upon  an  approximation  (never  used)  of 
the  museum  of  the  Jardin  des  Plantes  of  Paris.  The 
cornerstone  was  not  laid  until  during  the  interregnum 
after  his  departure,  in  1892.^  The  drill  hall,  however, 
had  gone  up  before  he  left,  upon  the  design  of  Dean 
Ricker. 

During  the  last  years  of  the  administration  and  the 
first  following  it  the  introduction  of  electricity  was 
producing  marked  changes,  electric  lights  supplement- 
ing gas  in  most  rooms  and  an  electric  clock  with  attach- 
ments for  bells  supplanting  an  arrangement  whereby 
a  workman  rang  each  recitation  hour — when  he  thought 
of  it.  The  library  kept  on  at  its  snail 's  pace,  containing 
in  1890  only  about  20,000  volumes,  besides  pamphlets, 
and  being  so  markedly  deficient  in  some  directions  that 
the  faculty  were  insistent  on  the  need  for  additions. 
Expenditures  for  books,  subscriptions,  and  freight  com- 
bined— purchases  were  made  through  one  firm,  as  Mc- 
Clurg's  or  Putnam's — averaged  not  over  $1,500  yearly, 

1888,  and  the  equipmment  of  the  mining  laboratory  cost  several 
thousands.  The  industrial  museum  contained  a  number  of  ob- 
jects from  the  exposition  at  New  Orleans. 

'  There  was  some  rivalry  at  the  time  between  the  colleges  of 
engineering  and  natural  science  as  to  which  should  have  the 
new  building  first.  Dr.  Peabody's  plans  for  the  interior  of  the 
Natural  History  Building  were  at  first  not  at  all  pleasing  to 
some  members  of  the  scientific  faculty. 


UNIVERSITY  ADVERTISING  115 

though  Peabody  requested  in  the  end  that  $2,000  be 
spent  for  books  alone.  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and  other 
neighbors  had  all  surpassed  Illinois.  As  for  the  exist- 
ing museum,  the  collections  were  greatly  enriched  by 
the  accessions  from  the  State  Laboratory  of  Natural 
History,  which  brought  with  it  3,500  specimens  of 
fungi,  11,700  fishes,  1,400  reptiles,  and  42,000  mounted 
insects,  with  other  material.  The  industrial  museum 
contained  Patent  Office  models,  gifts  from  manufac- 
turers, and  some  products  of  the  shops. 

The  most  important  facts  in  the  history  of  the  Uni- 
versity in  this  decade  concern  its  relations  with  the 
State;  for  in  this  period  the  tide  first  began  to  turn, 
and  popular  indifference  slowly  to  change  to  grudging 
recognition  of  Illinois  as  actually  the  State  University. 
The  initial  advances  in  State  esteem  were  made  partly 
as  a  result  of  the  growing  momentum  of  the  institution, 
but  more  largely  by  virtue  of  the  strenuous  efforts  of 
the  alumni,  assisted  by  the  faculty.  Though  Dr.  Pea- 
body  always  spoke  of  1885  as  the  pivotal  year,  most 
people  must  have  felt  for  several  years  afterwards  that 
nothing  had  really  yet  been  accomplished.  Legislative 
criticism  was  as  keen  as  ever,  and  the  attitude  of  the 
newspapers  as  provoking.  Thus  in  1883  the  Illini  com- 
plained of  the  Chicago  Tribune's  hatred  of  the  Uni- 
versity, its  gross  ignorance  and  falsifying  propensities; 
and  in  1887,  when  a  debate  was  going  on  between  the 
Tribune  and  Inter  Ocean  as  to  the  value  of  normal  and 
university  education,  the  Tribune  still  asserted  that  Il- 
linois was  only  ''a  useful  agricultural  academy."  But 
the  advances  were  real  if  small,  and  were  registered  in 
many  different  ways. 

Consistent  efforts  were  made  throughout  Peabody 's 
administration  to  advertise  the  University.    In  his  first 


116  YEARS  OF  DEPRESSION 

year  an  exhibition  of  the  practical  work  of  the  institu- 
tion was  placed  in  the  Capitol  at  Springfield  for  the 
special  benefit  of  the  legislators,  three  large  cases  repre- 
senting the  activities  of  the  students  in  agriculture,  the 
sciences,  engineering,  and  art  and  design.  Encouraged 
by  the  press  notices  received,  the  University  began  ap- 
propriating more  for  advertising — $600  in  1884 — and 
to  carry  on  a  steady  campaign.  Space  was  bought  in 
the  farm  journals  and  newspapers,  circulars  issued  to 
alumni,  school  officers,  and  the  public  generally,  and 
an  unsolicited  article  in  the  Prairie  Farmer  widely  cir- 
culated. The  University  was  represented  at  the  New 
Orleans  Cotton  Exposition,  at  the  Educational  Con- 
gress at  Madison,  Wisconsin,  in  1884,  and  at  the  Na- 
tional Education  Association  meetings.  In  1887  it 
offered  an  honorary  scholarship  to  each  county,  the 
holders  to  be  appointed  upon  examination.  "Our  Uni- 
versity," Peabody  remarked  in  1888,  "is  daily  coming 
to  be  recognized  as  the  State  University  of  Illinois.  .  .  . 
In  many  places  where  I  have  visited  the  schools  public 
addresses  have  been  delivered,  the  request  being,  Tell 
us  about  the  University. ' ' 

The  slowly  growing  extension  and  experimental  ac- 
tivities of  the  University  had  much  to  do  with  this  newer 
public  confidence,  though,  to  be  sure,  they  opened  in 
an  inauspicious  way.  In  1880  the  Trustees  had  appro- 
priated money  for  a  series  of  experiments  upon  the 
products  of  sorghum  cane,  and  these  were  diligently 
prosecuted  by  the  professors  of  chemistry  and  agricul- 
tural chemistry,  Weber  and  Scovell.  A  pamphlet  was 
published  on  new  methods  of  sugar  manufacture,  and 
fifty  pounds  of  sugar  were  exhibited  at  a  Chicago  fair, 
both  attracting  much  attention.  But  at  this  moment 
Peabody  was  amazed  to  hear  from  Weber  that  patents 


DR.  FORBES  COMES  117 

had  already  been  issued  to  him  and  Seovell  covering  the 
processes,  or  parts  of  them.  He  kindly  but  firmly  pro- 
tested, for  he  realized  that  if  this  action  became  known 
the  public  would  harshly  condemn  the  University.  The 
rural  population,  as  he  told  the  Trustees,  had  been  led 
to  believe  that  these  experiments  had  been  conducted 
by  its  college,  founded  largely  for  its  benefit,  and  de- 
signed to  disseminate  industrial  information.  It  be- 
lieved itself  the  proprietor  of  the  information  gained 
through  the  University's  funds  and  equipment,  and 
must  resent  sequestration  of  its  property.  The  two 
professors  protested,  but  the  Trustees  first  condemned 
them,  and  in  1882,  following  opinions  offered  by  the 
Governor  and  Attorney  General,  discharged  them ;  it  is 
good  to  know  that,  though  they  set  up  a  plant  in 
Urbana,  they  found  no  profit  in  the  patents.  But  in 
extension  lecturing,  particularly  in  agriculture,  the 
University  perceptibly  stimulated  interest  in  itself. 
Morrow  had  little  to  do  except  devote  himself  to  the 
farmers'  institutes,  and  he  did  this  with  such  zeal  that 
in  1887  Peabody  remarked  that  his  teaching  was  suf- 
fering. A  year  later  the  Regent  estimated  that  the 
number  of  agricultural,  educational,  and  other  gather- 
ings attended  by  the  faculty  was  over  100,  and  the 
number  of  addresses  delivered  over  200.  In  that  spring 
alone  the  indefatigable  Morrow  had  appeared  at 
31  farmers'  meetings,  and  Prof.  Forbes  at  nearly  as 
many. 

A  notable  gain  to  the  instruction  and  to  University 
prestige  was  felt  when  in  1884  Prof.  Stephen  A.  Forbes 
came  from  the  Normal  University  to  teach  zoology  and 
entomology,  bringing  with  him  the  office  of  State  Ento- 
mologist. His  other  office  as  director  of  the  State 
Laboratory  of  Natural  History,  which  he  had  founded 


118  YEARS  OF  DEPRESSION 

in  1878,  was  transferred  soon  after."^  A  man  of  rare 
personality  as  well  as  scientific  ability,  he  gave  new  life 
to  the  college  of  science — of  which  he  became  Dean  in 
1888 — and  to  research  activity.  From  his  office  three 
series  of  publications  were  steadily  developed :  two  from 
the  State  Laboratory,  one  from  the  Entomologist's  office. 
The  first  two  volumes  of  the  natural  history  survey  of 
the  State,  covering  ornithology,  were  ready  in  1886 ;  the 
first  volume  of  the  Bulletin  of  the  State  Laboratory  to 
be  published  after  the  transfer  to  the  University  in- 
cluded articles  by  Burrill  on  Illinois  fungi  and  by 
Forbes  on  Illinois  fishes,  and  on  the  contagious  diseases 
of  insects.  The  entomological  reports  contained  much 
of  interest  and  value  to  farmers  and  fruit-growers,  while 
both  Forbes  and  Burrill  prepared  many  papers  for 
farm  journals.  The  State  Laboratory  also  furnished  the 
public  schools  with  specimens  for  use  in  natural  history 
work. 

But  the  two  greatest  steps  in  improving  State  rela- 
tions were  taken  when  the  University's  name  was 
changed,  and  when  the  Trustees  were  made  popularly 
elective.  Though  down-State  alumni  were  enlisted  both 
of  these  changes  were  planned  and  carried  through 
chiefly  by  the  very  active  Chicago  Club  of  alumni,  in 
which  John  Farson,  the  banker,  J.  F.  Going,  later  a 
judge,  Francis  M.  McKay,  W.  A.  Heath,  James  R. 
Mann,  and  A.  0.  Coddington  were  the  leading  lights. 
The  Regent  supported  the  first  move,  but  earnestly 
opposed  the  second. 

The  objections  to  the  name  "  Illinois  Industrial  Uni- 
versity," which,  as  we  have  noted,  led  the  College  Gov- 

*  A  direct  result  of  the  accession  of  the  State  Laboratory  was 
the  addition  of  a  professorship  and  assistant  professorship  in 
zo(3logy,  shared  by  the  Laboratory  and  the  University. 


THE  NAME  CHANGED  119 

ernment  to  vote  for  a  change  under  Gregory,  were 
principally  two.  It  was  obvious,  in  the  first  place,  that 
it  was  a  misnomer  for  a  broadly  planned  institution,  and 
made  it  seem  both  narrow  and  eccentric,  while  depriv- 
ing it  of  the  full  value  of  the  State's  name.  In  the 
second,  a  peculiar  sense  had  become  attached  to  the 
word  "industrial"  as  applied  to  a  public  institution, 
and  this  sense  was  highly  damaging.  Since  1875  one 
commonwealth  after  another  had  called  its  reformatory 
or  correctional  workhouse  for  youths  an  industrial 
school,  borrowing  the  euphemism  from  England.  Some 
asylums  for  dependents  bore  the  name.  By  the  early 
eighties  the  University  was  thought  by  some  to  be  a 
place  where  obstreperous  youngsters  were  sent  for  safe- 
keeping, and  by  others  a  place  where  the  poverty- 
stricken  might  come  to  work  their  way  through  school. 
Graduates,  especially  upon  going  to  other  States,  were 
likely  to  be  asked  why  they  had  been  ' '  sent  up "  to  the 
institution,  while  the  Regent  was  angered  by  such  in- 
quiries as  the  one  contained  in  the  following  letter : 

Regent  Illinois  Industrial  University: — Will  you 
please  inform  me  if  your  institution  will  admit  children 
and  retain  them  until  maturity?  I  have  two  boys,  nine 
and  eleven  years  old,  and  four  girls,  from  two  to  nine 
years  old.  Buried  my  wife  on  the  first  of  May  last. 
Health  is  poor.  I  have  no  means  for  support  of  them, 
and  I  want  to  get  them  where  they  will  be  cared  for 
together.    Educated  in  learning  and  labor. 

The  number  expressing  such  ideas  was  probably  small 
even  in  the  aggregate,  but  it  was  nettling  to  have  such 
a  misconception  possible  at  all.  And  there  were  other 
impressions  quite  as  erroneous.  Many  reasoned  from 
the  name  that  the  University  was  one  in  which  the 
State  furnished  a  free  education  and  the  student  paid 


120  YEARS  OF  DEPRESSION 

for  it  in  work;  and  there  were  few  students  who  were 
not  asked  many  times  how  many  hours  they  were 
obliged  to  spend  in  manual  labor.  Farmers,  again, 
often  had  the  idea  that  an  industrial  school  was  an 
agricultural  school,  and  that  alone.  It  is  no  wonder 
that  the  Illini  once  proclaimed  angrily  that  "this  is  not 
a  home  for  the  feeble-minded,  that  hopeless  reprobates 
are  not  received  in  charge,  and  that  the  dairy  on  the 
farm  is  not  to  supply  milk  to  orphans."  The  only 
similar  seat  of  the  same  name  was  the  Arkansas  Indus- 
trial University. 

As  the  students  became  alumni  they  carried  the  dis- 
like of  the  name  with  them,  and  as  alumni  they  felt 
more  and  more  impelled  to  have  it  changed.  The  Chi- 
cago Club,  eager  to  assist  the  University  in  every  way 
possible,  had  at  this  time  set  itself  a  tripartite  pro- 
gram. Its  members  wished  to  dispel  an  ignorance  so 
great  that  few  in  the  Northwest,  few  even  in  the  State, 
knew  that  Illinois  had  a  University  equipped  to  give 
"the  best  instruction"  to  a  much  larger  number  of 
students  than  it  had;  they  wished  to  popularize  the 
choice  of  the  Trustees;  but  above  all,  they  wished  to 
alter  the  name  of  the  institution.  Their  executive  com- 
mittee circularized  all  the  newspapers,  and  the  other 
alumni  were  reached  and  organized  in  a  manner  that 
would  prove  effective  in  the  Legislature.  Meanwhile, 
the  Regent  assisted  by  repeating  his  objections  to  the 
name,  while  the  faculty  carried  the  matter  before  the 
public  in  various  ways.  Finally,  Senator  M.  B.  Thomp- 
son, of  Urbana,  and  Representative  W.  F.  Calhoun,  of 
Clinton,  were  intrusted  with  a  bill  drawn  up  by  Mr. 
Going,  of  Chicago.  This  measure  met  with  fierce  opposi- 
tion. Many  of  the  University's  best  friends  opposed  the 
change,  and  the  farm  papers  were  unanimously  against 


TRUSTEES  BECOME  ELECTIVE  121 

it,  crying  that  the  industrial  classes  were  being  betrayed. 
Especially  was  the  upper  house  hard  to  deal  with,  and 
Peabody  sent  to  each  Senator  an  assurance  that  no  one 
had  the  remotest  intention  of  altering  the  aims  of  the 
University,  and  that  it  had  never  better  expressed  the 
aims  of  its  founders.  But  the  bill  passed  the  House  in 
May,  1885,  106-21,  and  the  Senate  on  June  10,  28-14. 

The  lamentation  of  the  agriculturists  was  for  a  time 
great.  The  Iowa  Homestead  remarked  that  the  sensi- 
bilities of  the  dude  students  were  now  cushioned,  and 
that_dt_.QBJ.yLremamed  to  substitute  for  the  motto  of 
"Learning  and  Labor"  the  words  "Lavender  and  Lily 
JWhite."  The  Western  Rural  declared:  "If  the  Uni- 
versity of  Champaign,  Illinois,  is  to  become  a  shadow 
of  the  Greek  and  Latin  mills,  there  is  no  need  of  its 
existence  at  all.  We  have  better  mills  of  that  kind  than 
it  is  or  ever  will  be,  and  we  have  enough  of  them  to 
satisfy  the  demand.  If  it  wishes  to  convert  itself  into 
a  dude  factory,  let  it  be  informed  that  there  is  no  place 
for  it  in  this  great  agricultural  State."  And  an  old 
ex-Trustee,  a  large  farmer,  told  Prof.  Forbes  that  he 
now  gave  the  University  up — ^the  industrial  classes  had 
lost  it. 

The  alteration  in  the  method  of  electing  Trustees 
came  two  years  later,  though  the  Chicago  Club  had 
proposed  it  in  1885,  when  it  had  sent  resolutions  to 
Gov.  Oglesby  recommending  the  appointment  of  Mann 
as  Trustee,  and  had  corresponded  with  Cornell  to  learn 
how  the  choice  of  alumni  to  representation  on  the  Board 
had  been  achieved  there.  Many  of  the  faculty,  all  the 
alumni,  and  all  the  students  supported  the  innovation, 
for  they  believed,  in  the  first  place,  that  it  would  result 
in  the  choice  of  more  alumni  as  Trustees,  and  therefore 
of  more  men  directly  interested  in  the  University;  in 


122  YEARS  OF  DEPRESSION 

the  second,  that  public  balloting  upon  the  Trustees 
would  stimulate  the  general  electorate  to  a  greater  re- 
gard for  the  University.  Peabody  stood  firmly  against 
it,  on  the  ground  that  it  would  lead  the  University  into 
political  complications.  He  also  obtained  statements 
from  Senator  Cullom,  Congressman  Cannon,  the  Gov- 
ernor, and  most  other  State  officers  of  the  same  fear, 
and  a  testimonial  from  President  Angell  that  a  similar 
arrangement  had  worked  badly  in  Michigan.  But 
some  thought  that  he  was  partly  moved  by  a  desire  to 
retain  his  old  privilege  of  suggesting  appointment  to 
the  Governor,  and  thus  controlling  the  Board.  Out  of 
the  controversy  rose  the  first  keen  dislike  for  him  by 
the  alumni,  the  first  strong  feeling  that  he  was  a  reac- 
tionary. Henceforth  the  slowness  of  University  prog- 
ress, already  irritating  to  many,  was  more  generally  laid 
to  him.  The  bill,  framed  by  Charles  G.  Neely,  was 
triumphantly  carried,  and  it  proved  an  unequivocal 
benefit  in  bringing  the  University  home  to  the  citizens.^ 
One  other  way  in  which  the  University  progressed 
was  in  dispelling  the  queer  prejudice  that  it  was  irre- 
ligious. That  this  notion  should  have  gained  some  cur- 
rency was  traceable  to  the  efforts  of  the  sectarian  col- 
leges in  the  sixties  to  show  that  any  State  institution 
must  be  a  hotbed  of  atheism.  None  but  the  bigoted 
believed  it,  but  these  bigoted  were  not  a  few.  The 
University  made  much  of  the  work  of  the  Christian 
Associations  and  the  local  churches,  and  Peabody  spoke 
against  Darwinism.  But  its  chief  vindication  came 
in    the    famous    Foster    North    ease,    which    dragged 

'  Mr.  F.  M.  McKay,  Mr.  Stephen  Reynolds,  and  Senator  T.  L. 
McGrath,  the  first  two  alumni,  assisted  the  bill's  passage  in  the 
Senate  and  House  in  April  and  May,  respectively,  1887.  Gov. 
Oglesby  was  so  opposed  that  he  let  it  become  law  without  his 
signature. 


AGRICULTURAL  EXPERIMENTS  123 

through  the  courts  for  some  time.  Since  its  opening, 
the  University  had  required  attendance  at  daily  chapel 
exercises,  the  men  being  marshaled  according  to  the 
cadet  organization.  In  the  spring  of  1885  North,  who 
had  been  a  student  in  a  desultory  way  for  six  years, 
suddenly  absented  himself  from  chapel,  and  denied  the 
University's  right  to  compel  his  attendance.  As  he 
refused  to  plead  any  conscientious  scruples,  he  was 
promptly  suspended.  He  petitioned  for  readmission, 
whereupon  the  faculty  obtained  an  opinion  from  the 
Attorney  General  that  its  action  was  a  just  piece  of 
punishment  for  insubordination,  and  refused  his  re- 
quest. All  his  efforts  to  defeat  the  University  at  law 
failed,  and  the  case  was  meanwhile  sufficiently  aired  to 
give  Illinois — despite  the  fact  that  it  was  no  longer 
headed  by  a  minister — somewhat  the  appearance  of  a 
defender  of  religion.^ 

The  farmers  who  had  lost  faith  in  the  University  in 
1885  were  much  assisted  in  regaining  it  in  1887,  when 
plans  were  promptly  drawn  up  to  erect  a  true  agricul- 
tural experiment  station  with  the  funds  carried  by  the 
Hatch  Act.  The  nine  directors  of  this  station  were  to 
be  appointed  by  the  Trustees,  one  to  be  the  Regent,  at 
least  two  members  of  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and  others 
representatives  of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture,  State 
Horticultural  Society,  and  State  Dairjrmen's  Association. 
It  was  regarded  as  a  department  of  the  University,  with 
the  land  and  equipment  of  the  institution  at  its  disposal. 
At  the  outset  it  was  determined  that  four  principal  in- 
quiries should  be  determined:  into  the  culture  of  the 
cereals  and  grasses;  into  the  feeding  of  meat  animals; 
into  the  feeding  of  dairy  cattle;  and  into  orcharding 

*  Nearly  thirty  years  later,  in  1914,  North  was  prevailed  upon  to 
return  to  the  University  for  his  degree,  which  he  refused! 


124  YEARS  OF  DEPRESSION 

and  the  culture  of  small  fruits  and  garden  products — 
all  this  to  be  under  the  joint  supervision  of  Burrill  and 
Morrow.  By  the  end  of  this  year  over  sixty  distinct 
experiments  were  being  conducted  on  the  so-called  north 
farm — much  the  present  site — and  the  results  of  one  on 
ensilage  feeding  had  been  published  and  distributed  in 
bulletin  form  to  10,000  farmers.  The  station  arranged 
a  method  of  cooperation  with  the  State  Laboratory  of 
Natural  History,  and  at  once  began  to  build  up  its  own 
library  and  periodical  room.  Certain  special  studies 
undertaken  by  the  college  of  agriculture  were  of  course 
continued  independently.  Before  the  close  of  Peabody's 
administration  the  station  had  begun  experiments  else- 
where in  the  State,  conducted  an  exhibit  at  Peoria,  and 
published  more  than  a  score  of  bulletins. 

The  relations  of  the  University  with  the  high  schools 
developed  slowly,  though  Peabody  had  their  strengthen- 
ing much  at  heart.  Early  in  his  administration  he  re- 
marked that  the  accrediting  system  had  given  the 
University  little  aid,  and  that  though  in  seven  years 
156  students  had  been  admitted  on  their  diplomas,  118 
came  from  the  three  schools  within  sight  of  its  towers. 
His  own  repeated  visits  to  examine  high  schools  con- 
vinced him  of  their  pitiable  state,  and  he  reported  that 
the  very  name  often  meant  no  more  than  that  the  school 
was  the  highest  in  the  community,  and  that  there  were 
many  district  schools  offering  better  instruction  than 
some  that  claimed  secondary  grade.  Only  at  the  close 
of  his  administration,  with  about  sixty  accredited  or 
partially  accredited  high  schools,  did  the  situation  seem 
to  be  rapidly  improving.  In  1884  the  examining  high 
schools  were  abolished ;  the  distinction  which  three  years 
later  was  drawn  between  the  partially  and  fully  accred- 
ited schools  arose  mainly  from  the  fact  that  a  difference 


ENTRANCE  REQUIREMENTS  125 

had  to  be  made  between  those  whose  graduates  were 
admitted  to  all  departments  and  those  which  com- 
manded admission  only  to  the  colleges  of  agriculture, 
engineering,  and  natural  science.  Many  high  schools 
did  not  then  give  Latin,  and  after  experimenting  with 
a  system  by  which  ''lit"  students  could  make  this  up 
in  the  academy,  Peabody  decided  that  the  best  kindness 
to  the  school  system  was  to  demand  it  firmly. 

The  development  of  the  preparatory  department  is 
the  development  of  entrance  requirements  in  this  period, 
for  it  was  consistently  stated  that  all  matriculants  in 
colleges  other  than  literature  and  science  must  pass  ex- 
aminations in  its  studies.  It  was  invaluable,  both  be- 
cause of  the  lack  of  high  schools  and  of  the  great 
number  of  youths  who  had  outgrown  physically  and 
mentally  the  high  school  age.  The  intent  was  always  to 
make  it  a  place  for  students  of  eighteen  to  twenty-one 
years.  Peabody  expressed  in  1888  a  wish  to  expand  the 
course  from  one  to  two  years,  as  this  compression  of 
work  was  too  hard  for  the  younger  registrants ;  but  this 
was  impossible  without  a  separate  building  and  a  full 
and  separate  corps.  The  teaching  personnel  was  made 
up  by  drafts  on  the  University  faculty,  Professors 
Rolfe,  Butler,  and  others  repeatedly  serving.  Dur- 
ing most  of  the  decade  the  course  was  divided  into  two 
parts,  the  first  preliminary  to  the  two  technical  colleges 
and  science,  the  second  to  literature  and  science.  There 
was  no  Latin  whatever  in  the  former,  but  there  was 
English  composition,  which  the  latter  did  not  have ;  and 
Greek  was  not  required,  as  it  was  for  the  school  of 
ancient  languages.  Algebra  and  geometry  were  taken 
by  all,  and  physics,  physiology,  and  botany  by  most. 
There  was  no  change  in  the  curriculum,  but  a  gradual 
stiffening    of    its   standards.     Though   the    University 


126  YEARS  OF.  DEPRESSION 

recognized  in  the  academy  its  chief  feeder,  it  always 
viewed  it  with  disfavor,  and  in  1890  it  was  recommended 
that  it  be  closed  as  soon  as  some  neighboring  institution 
could  be  induced  to  take  up  the  work.^ 

Transcending  in  scope  the  University's  relations  with 
the  State  were  those  it  established,  through  its  increas- 
ing and  more  and  more  loyal  alumni,  with  the  entire 
section.  Of  the  three  thousand  students  who  had  left 
the  University  by  1890  with  some  real  sense  of  debt  to  it, 
probably  nine-tenths  remained  west  of  the  Indiana  line 
and  five-sixths  in  the  upper  Mississippi  Valley.  An 
Alumni  Association  began  actively  functioning  during 
the  decade,  and  was  helpful  in  more  ways  than  one. 
In  1890-91,  under  the  presidency  of  W.  A.  Heath,  it 
undertook  the  compilation  of  an  alumni  directory.  It 
planned  a  number  of  reunions,  culminating  in  a  grand 
banquet  in  1890,  the  twentieth  anniversary  of  the  com- 
pletion of  the  first  year.  The  legislative  activities  of 
the  Chicago  Club  we  have  noted,  while  it  did  so  much 
to  make  students  leaving  the  University  feel  at  home 
in  the  city  as  to  be  commended  several  times  by  the 
mini.  Near  the  close  of  the  decade  were  formed  the 
Nebraska  Alumni  Association,  with  offices  at  Lincoln, 
and  the  Southwestern  Alumni  Association,  centering 
about  Kansas  City,  while  in  1891  the  Northwestern 
Alumni  Association  of  Taeoma  was  organized.  All  were 
loyal  bodies,  though  only  the  Chicago  Club  went  so  far 

*  There  were  times  when  the  "  preps "  ( who  included  many, 
however,  with  but  one  or  two  studies  to  make  up)  constituted 
nearly  one-third  the  total  attendance.  Such  were  the  years  ending 
1885,  with  107  "preps"  out  of  332  students,  and  1889,  with  121 
"preps"  out  of  417.  This  hardly  reflected  an  improvement  in 
the  high  schools,  yet  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  attainments  of 
entering  freshmen  grew  better.  Peabody  accused  some  high 
Fchool  principals  of  desiring  to  have  their  schools  accredited 
rather  as  a  certificate  of  good  character  than  for  the  convenience 
of  prospective  matriculants. 


STUDENT  LIFE  BROADENS  127 

as  to  have  its  members  use  stationery  bearing  a  vignette 
of  University  Hall. 

In  students'  affairs  the  decade  was  one  of  the  rapid 
growth  of  a  number  of  new  interests :  the  multiplication 
of  clubs  and  societies;  the  beginning  of  new  publica- 
tions; the  first  atterution  to  athletics;  the  first  vigorous 
work  of  the  Christian  Associations ;  the  determined  per- 
sistence of  fraternities;  the  development  of  a  social  life 
of  some  variety,  marked  by  a  spirit  in  the  relations  of 
men  and  women  students  which  has  been  ever  since 
typical,  and  the  partial  escape  of  matriculants  from  a 
thoroughly  utilitarian  application  to  study  and  strict 
amenability  to  the  faculty  into  a  freer  atmosphere. 
Student  life  really  found  its  beginnings,  and  meant 
something  more  than  an  existence  centered  in  the  hap- 
penings of  the  dormitory,  the  College  Government,  and 
the  literary  societies.  The  unhappiest  feature  of  under- 
graduate history  was  the  constant  dislike  of  a  large 
part  of  the  student  body  for  the  Regent,  who,  though 
really  kindly  and  sensitive,  was  of  cold  and  austere 
bearing,  lacked  magnetism,  and  could  not  break  down 
the  barrier  of  reserve  which  seemed  always  about  him. 

Both  the  passing  of  the  College  Government  and  the 
abandonment  of  the  dormitory  meant  the  destruction  of 
a  centralizing  influence.  The  former  had  seldom  been 
more  than  a  political  plaything  to  many  students,  and 
its  success  had  varied  greatly  from  year  to  year.  The 
courts  "were  good  when  they  were  good,  and  when  they 
were  bad  were  awfully  bad. ' '  ^  Tickets  came  to  be 
elected  on  a  tacit  question  of  the  strict  or  lax  enforce- 
ment of  the  laws,  and  the  student  dislike  of  officious- 
ness  made  it  inevitable  that  those  representing  laxity 

*  Thus  Dr.  Peabody  remarked,  Board  Report,  1888,  pp.  201flf. 


128  YEARS  OF  DEPRESSION 

should  get  the  upper  hand.  A  cartoon  in  an  under- 
graduate publication  justly  exhibited  the  government 
as  a  very  creaky  skeleton,  its  limbs  moved  by  wires 
pulled  from  behind  a  partition.  Another  influence 
strengthening  the  opposition  to  it  was  the  tendency  of 
fraternity  men  to  try  to  use  its  office  to  their  group 
ends.  Soon  after  Peabody's  installation,  finally,  the 
Attorney  General  rendered  a  decision  greatly  limiting 
its  powers  of  discipline.  Peabody  withstood  all  at- 
tempts at  a  summary  overthrow  of  the  government,  but 
he  believed  that  it  was  worthless  unless  sustained  by 
the  earnest  sentiment  of  a  majority.  As  it  became  more 
and  more  impotent,  its  friends  gave  up  hope,  and  in 
1883  an  election  was  held  to  decide  the  question  of  its 
continuance.  The  vote  was  110  against  it,  and  70  for 
it,  with  120  not  voting;  and  the  faculty  promptly  re- 
called into  its  hands  all  the  authority  delegated  the 
government. 

The  most  interesting  feature  of  student  life  under 
Peabody  was  the  struggle  against  fraternities.  Before 
his  inauguration  the  chapter  of  Delta  Tau  Delta  was 
dormant,  though  not  so  much  so  but  that  it  could  easily 
have  been  awakened.  But  early  in  1881  a  chapter  of 
Sigma  Chi  was  organized,  numbering  some  of  the  best- 
known  students.  These  men  always  maintained  that  the 
Regent  was  consulted  before  the  organization  of  the 
fraternity,  and  that  he  countenanced  its  formation ;  cer- 
tainly the  Illini  and  local  papers  gave  prominent  space 
to  the  chapter's  first  ball,  and  the  members  wore  their 
badges.  When  college  reopened  in  the  fall  initiates  were 
pledged,  and  the  future  seemed  so  bright  that  other 
groups  forwarded  petitions  to  Beta  Theta  Pi  and  Phi 
Gamma  Delta.  But  Peabody  was  meanwhile  alarmed, 
and  in  September  had  placed  the  matter  before  the 


FRATERNITIES  129 

Trustees.  That  body,  retaining  the  hostility  to  fra- 
ternities acquired  under  Gregory,  directed  him  to  stamp 
out  the  bodies,  and  as  soon  as  possible  he  called  the 
members  before  him  and  informed  them  of  the  ban. 
The  badges  disappeared,  but  in  a  few  weeks  he  learned 
that  a  committee  was  present  from  an  Indiana  college 
organizing  one  of  the  chapters  petitioned  for.  No  less 
than  four  fraternities,  it  transpired,  were  in  being  or 
about  to  come  into  being.  The  faculty  accordingly  passed 
a  rule  that  after  the  new  year  no  student  might  receive 
a  class  card  till  he  had  deposited  with  the  Regent  his 
pledge  that  he  would  join  no  college  secret  society  so 
long  as  he  was  a  student;  and  that  no  student  might 
receive  honorable  dismissal  or  a  diploma  until  he  had 
deposited  a  statement  that  he  had  not  been  a  member 
of  any  such  society  since  the  date  of  his  pledge.  This 
step  followed  a  Princeton  precedent,  and  was  quite 
legal.  Those  already  members  of  the  societies  were  per- 
mitted to  retain  membership  provided  they  were  not 
active. 

Yet  Sigma  Chi  managed  to  live,  for  its  charter  was 
held  by  resident  alumni  who  retained  the  semblance  of 
an  organization  through  the  troublous  years  that  fol- 
lowed. There  had  been  in  existence  for  some  time  at 
the  University  a  mysterious  body  called  the  ''Ten 
Tautological  Tautogs,"  originally  a  burlesque  on  secret 
societies.  Its  motto,  "Bono  ostrea  in  sono  ventre" 
(sic),  indicated  its  gluttonous  proclivities,  and  its  per- 
sonnel was  an  absolute  secret.  It  happened  at  the  open- 
ing of  school  in  1882  that  the  only  returning  Tautogs 
were  Sigma  Chis.  The  chance  was  too  good  to  bo 
missed;  the  Tautological  body  was  made  a  vehicle  for 
keeping  Sigma  Chi  vicariously  alive  in  college,  and 
after  leaving  college  the  postgraduate  degree  of  Sigma 


130  YEARS  OF  DEPEESSION 

Chi  was  conferred  on  all  Tautogs.  As  the  members  had 
asked  Dr.  Peabody  whether  they  fell  under  the  anti- 
fraternity  ruling,  and  he  had  assured  them  that  they 
did  not,  they  had  no  qualms  of  conscience.  New  blood 
was  kept  constantly  running  through  the  Tautological 
club.  Regular  meetings  were  held,  and  made  known 
to  the  public  through  the  subsequent  distribution  of 
programs.  These  called  up  a  vision  of  Pickwick, 
Artemus  Ward,  Confucius,  Lo,  the  poor  Indian,  Baron 
Munchausen,  Shakespeare,  Don  Quixote,  Dr.  Johnson, 
Mohammed,  and  Victor  Hugo  feasting  on  a  long  list  of 
delicacies,  and  vying  in  nonsensical  discourse.  In 
reality,  the  fraternity  men  were  consuming  bread, 
, cheese,  and  beer,  and  singing  "Michael  Roy"  at  the 
tops  of  their  voices. 

In  1885  the  council  of  Sigma  Chi  addressed  a  letter 
to  the  Trustees,  with  eight  reasons  why  the  prohibition 
of  three  years  before  should  be  dropped.  A  petition 
was  also  circulated  with  some  success  among  the  stu- 
dents, while  Walter  L.  Fisher,  later  Secretary  of  the 
Interior,  appeared  before  the  Board  in  behalf  of  fra- 
ternities. But  many  of  the  students  were  opposed  to 
the  movement — the  Illini  condemned  it  strongly — and 
Peabody  remained  very  hostile,  so  that  the  Trustees 
killed  it  in  committee  with  asperity.  By  some  argu- 
ments of  the  national  council  they  were  much  offended. 
Sigma  Chi  had  referred  to  its  belief  that  a  former 
secret  society  had  continued  a  desultory  existence  at 
Illinois,  and  had  somehow  conveyed  an  insinuation  that 
the  Sigma  Chi  authorities  encouraged  the  violation  of 
student  pledges  by  accepting  those  who  had  broken 
them.  They  had  further  offered  the  most  impolitic 
threat  that  if  defied  they  would  use  their  influence  with 
the  Legislature  to  defeat  the  University  appropriations. 


ATHLETICS  131 

Indeed,  feeling  was  running  high.  The  fraternity  ele- 
ment was  greatly  strengthening  the  general  alumni  ele- 
ment dissatisfied  with  Peabody,  and  the  two  together 
were  beginning  to  think  of  using  their  strength. 

Thus  affairs  stood,  so  far  as  the  rule  went,  till  the 
fall  of  1891.  In  September,  at  the  first  Trustees'  meet- 
ing after  the  resignation  of  Peabody,  a  sensible  motion 
was  introduced  that  the  pledges  theretofore  required  of 
matriculants  and  graduates  be  omitted,  and  the  subject 
of  fraternities  be  referred  to  the  committee  on  rules. 
Thus  were  the  bars  let  down,  for  with  Peabody  departed 
all  narrow  hostility  to  the  bodies.  That  autumn  Kappa 
Sigma  was  established,  and  that  winter  Sigma  Chi 
brought  back,  while  in  1894  Delta  Tau  Delta  was  fully 
revived.  The  pledges  in  the  Kegent's  office  were  pub- 
licly burned.  Late  in  1892  Burrill  reported  that  the 
young  Avomen  had  been  given  permission  to  establish 
a  chapter  of  a  sorority,  but  no  use  of  it  was  made  till 
1895. 

Athletics  developed  but  slowly  in  this  period.  For 
years  the  University,  as  the  students  complained,  did 
nothing  to  encourage  physical  sport ;  the  gymnasium  was 
so  bare  that  a  horizontal  bar  and  a  spineless  spring 
board  long  stood  lonesome  suggestions  of  a  possible 
equipment.  A  few  intercollegiate  contests  in  the  early 
years  soon  led  to  the  formation  of  a  College  Baseball 
Association  among  such  small  institutions  as  Knox, 
Monmouth,  Blackburn,  and  Lake  Forest  and  the  Uni- 
versity, with  almost  no  games,  however,  except  at 
the  time  of  the  annual  oratorical  contest  of  these  col- 
leges. A  typical  early  gathering  was  that  of  October, 
1884,  at  Lincoln.  Perhaps  150  students  gathered  from 
the  various  institutions,  the  University  delegation,  the 
largest,  coming  in  with  music  on  a  train  the  engine  of 


132  YEARS  OF  DEPRESSION 

which  had  been  decorated,  A  banquet  was  held  at  one 
of  the  hotels,  with  toasts ;  the  next  afternoon  Knox  and 
the  University  were  matched  in  baseball,  Knox  winning ; 
and  in  the  evening  came  the  oratorical  contest,  Illinois 
taking  third  place.  This  was  the  great  event  of  the 
year  for  college  students  in  the  State.  Early  in  the 
decade  an  athletic  association  was  also  formed,  which 
by  1886-87  was  managing  a  glee  club  and  athletic  en- 
tertainment and  an  annual  field  day  among  the  classes. 
Baseball  games  increased,  but  not  till  the  close  of  the 
administration  was  a  football  eleven  organized — the  first 
eleven  going  to  Purdue  in  1890  on  invitation  of  Presi- 
dent Smart,  and  being  beaten,  thanks  to  an  Indianapolis 
coach  serving  at  Purdue,  by  62-0. 

In  the  spring  of  1891  the  athletic  association  was 
given  permission  to  inclose  and  occupy  a  part  of  the 
north  campus,  and  was  allowed  $350  for  improvements. 
It  also  raised  money  by  a  minstrel  entertainment,  and 
so  much  interest  was  shown  in  the  games  played  that 
Burrill  commented  on  the  fact.  That  fall  the  eleven 
employed  its  first  coach,  a  Purdue  man  named  Robert 
Lackey,  and  at  the  tournament  of  the  colleges  at  Mon- 
mouth it  swept  the  field  in  sports,  celebrating  so  lustily 
as  to  clash  with  the  police.  By  this  time  the  rising  en- 
rollment was  making  the  University's  opponents  seem 
puny.  There  was  therefore  great  joy  when  in  the  fol- 
lowing spring  it  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Western 
College  League,  a  more  robust  organization,  including 
Northwestern,  Washington,  and  Purdue  Universities. 
At  the  same  time,  better  gymnasium  facilities  were  af- 
forded in  the  drill  hall,  and  student-instructorg  hired,^ 

*  In  1888-89  we  find  Lieut.  Iloppin,  of  the  military  department, 
acting  aa  a  semi-official  director  of  physical  training,  with  110 
students  in  the  gymnastic  classes,  and  a  daily  attendance  of 
half  this.     His  work  was  carried  on  in  the  old  drill  hall,  for 


FORENSICS  133 

Interest  in  the  intercollegiate  oratorical  contests 
waned  as  that  in  athletics  waxed,  and  as  Illinois  was 
lifted  above  the  small  colleges.  The  Regent  had  early- 
suggested  the  University's  withdrawal  from  them,  partly 
because  the  contests  cost  so  much  time,  partly,  perhaps, 
because  of  its  rather  bad  rank.  But  after  Brownlee'a 
coming  everyone  was  rejoiced  by  the  capture  of  first 
place  by  an  engineering  student,  to  whom,  in  an  excess 
of  gratitude,  one  of  the  Sopliograplis  was  dedicated. 
The  college  orations,  highly  formal  efforts  on  large 
themes,  were  reprinted  in  all  the  college  papers;  some- 
times a  wealthy  judge  or  banker  would  be  so  struck  by 
one  from  his  own  section  that  he  would  have  many- 
copies  neatly  published.  Even  as  Illinois  was  making 
this  better  showing  abroad  the  home  interest  in  oratory 
and  debate  continued  to  decline.  In  1885  the  Illini 
found  fault  with  the  literary  societies  as  stolid,  com- 
monplace, and  not  really  literary.  The  increase  of  en- 
gineering students  over  those  in  literature  was  one  of 
the  reasons  for  the  decay  of  forensics,  yet  next  year  the 
Illini  lamented  that  even  the  women  did  not  maintain 
their  literary  bodies.  A  little  later  the  abandonment 
of  the  Junior  Exhibition  and  Senior  Class  Day  was  con- 
templated, and  in  1888  the  faculty  had  to  supervise  the 
former.  The  following  year  it  was  converted  into  an 
oratorical  contest,  and  this  was  so  satisfactory  as  to 
be  repeated  for  some  years,  an  alumnus  offering  gen- 
erous prizes.  The  literary  societies  made  their  first 
attempt  to  arrange  a  lecture  course  jointly  in  1883,  and 
after  many  vicissitudes  finally  made  in  1891  a  perma- 

which  the  students  purchased  $125  worth  of  equipment;  those 
using  the  gymnastic  apparatus  paid  fifty  cents  a  term  for 
tickets,  which  went  to  pay  student  instructors. 


134  YEARS  OF  DEPRESSION 

nent  attraction  of  the  venture,  calling  it  the  Star  Lecture 
Course. 

The  chief  change  in  the  field  of  student  publications 
lay  in  the  introduction  of  class  year  books.  In  1882 
the  class  of  1884,  after  some  debate  as  to  whether  it 
should  not  wait  till  its  junior  year,  brought  out  the 
SopliograpJi,  a  manila-bound  volume  of  meager  dimen- 
sions and  scrappy  contents.  It  reflected  student  interest 
in  the  fraternity  question  and  interclass  hostility,  and 
little  else.  The  next  year  the  following  class  called  its 
year  book  the  Saturnian,  but  the  original  title  was  at 
once  restored.  There  was  a  steady  attempt  thereafter 
by  each  class  to  better  the  work  of  its  predecessor, 
though  none  really  succeeded  in  converting  the  annual 
into  a  genuine  record  of  its  membership  and  activities. 
Nearly  all  had  cartoons,  and  in  the  later  years  some 
did  not  hesitate  to  caricature  the  Regent.  Finally,  in 
1894,  in  deference  to  the  general  opinion  that  the 
sophomores  were  too  immature  for  the  annual,  the 
juniors  brought  out  the  first  Illio.  The  Illini,  which 
had  just  become  a  semi-monthly  when  Dr,  Peabody  was 
installed,  continued  to  be  published  on  the  second  floor 
of  the  old  Military  Hall,  and  to  fight  against  a  too 
highly  literary  content.  In  1886,  having  passed  from 
the  hands  of  the  Student  Government  to  those  of  its 
subscribers,  it  acquired  a  new  cover  ornamented  by 
figures  symbolizing  letters  and  science.  Under  Dr.  Bur- 
rill  it  became  a  weekly,  and  began  printing  news  stories, 
even  with  headlines,  while  one  enterprising  editor  of- 
fered a  course  in  Volapuk — but  the  stories  and  essays 
remained. 

The  growing  variety  of  student  interests  found  ex- 
pression in  a  greater  and  greater  number  of  societies. 
Most  prominent  of  these  were  a  cluster  of  scientific  or 


THE  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATIONS         135 

technical  organizations  which  came  into  being  halfway 
through  the  decade — the  natural  history  society,  the 
agricultural  club,  and  clubs  for  the  civil  and  the 
mechanical  engineers  and  the  architectural  students.  In 
1887  the  civil  engineering  club  was  sufficiently  proud 
of  the  papers  read  before  it  to  publish  a  thin  volume 
of  them,  and  a  year  later  it  added  a  second ;  in  the  third 
year  the  mechanical  engineering  club  joined  with  its 
fellow,  and  the  first  volume  of  the  TecJinograpli  was 
published.  Some  of  the  papers  contained  in  it  were 
the  theses  that  all  engineering  students  had  to  present, 
and  embodied  researches  that  attracted  the  attention  of 
technical  publications  outside.  The  political  science  and 
Blackstonian  clubs  speak  for  themselves;  the  military 
band  as  yet  amounted  to  little,  and  glee  singing  to  less. 

Though  the  first  college  Y.  M.  C.  A.  in  the  State  had 
been  organized  at  Urbana  in  1872,  and  had  met  regu- 
larly, it  gained  little  influence  till  twelve  years  later, 
when  it  issued  its  first  handbook.  Later  the  young 
women  organized  a  Christian  Association,  and  immedi- 
ately after  Peabody's  resignation  the  two  undertook  to 
raise  $25,000  for  a  building,  with  unlooked-for  success. 
Following  a  series  of  meetings  in  1892,  within  twenty- 
four  hours  150  students  pledged  over  ten  thousand  dol- 
lars— and  those  were  days  when  Illinois  students  were 
still  poor!  Dr.  Burrill  actively  assisted  the  campaign, 
and  within  a  few  weeks  the  total  had  been  brought  above 
fifteen  thousand,  or  five  times  enough  for  the  purchase 
of  a  lot  east  of  the  Engineering  Building.  Though 
pledges  were  soon  after  still  further  increased  to  over 
twenty-five  thousand,  the  panic  of  1893  made  collection 
difficult,  and  no  plans  for  building  were  made. 

Class  rivalry  found  much  rougher  expression  in  the 
later  years  under  Dr.  Peabody  than  under  Gregory,  for 


136  YEARS  OF  DEPRESSION 

the  simple  reason  that  class  lines  were  now  definite,  class 
traditions  had  crystallized,  and  the  growing  registration 
made  division  into  groups  natural.  By  this  time  long- 
standing precedent  called  upon  the  sophomores  to  break 
up  the  freshman  party  and  to  dump  the  cadets'  cannon 
into  the  Boneyard.  The  freshman  party  was  a  dinner 
and  dance  held  in  some  local  hall :  the  second-year  men 
would  steal  the  best  clothes  of  the  newcomers,  would 
break  a  jug  of  molasses  over  the  steps,  would  cut  off 
the  gas,  would  throw  "eye-water,"  a  chemical  exciting 
the  lachrymal  glands,  or  would  boldly  kidnap  the  Fresh- 
men. When  order  became  bad  in  the  closing  days  of  the 
Regent's  term  these  methods  were  transferred  to  break 
up  the  junior  and  senior  oratorical  contests,  and  the 
chapel  exercises.  Insubordinates  would  fasten  phials  of 
* '  eye-water ' '  to  the  fronts  of  their  heels  and  break  them 
upon  the  rungs  of  their  chairs  at  a  signal.  Their  suc- 
cess was  such  as  to  contribute  much  to  the  end  of  the 
rather  unpopular  regency.  The  first  class  rush  occurred 
in  the  autumn  of  1891  in  the  corridors  of  University 
Hall,  and  was  wholly  spontaneous.  The  clothes  of  many 
were  stripped  off,  and  the  fight  did  not  end  until  the 
heaviest  student — George  Huff — having  climbed  for 
safety  to  one  of  the  chandeliers,  broke  it  off  at  the 
ceiling  and  came  down  with  it  upon  the  heads  of  his 
battling  fellows.  This  contest  was  followed  by  a  num- 
ber of  expulsions. 

In  military  affairs,  Peabody's  first  care  was  to  make 
final  adjustment  of  the  cadet  rebellion  bequeathed  him 
by  Gregory.  At  his  instance,  the  Board  provided  in 
the  spring  of  1881  that  students  in  the  senior  class 
should  be  excused  from  drill,  and  that  each  spring  the 
faculty  should  examine  candidates  for  nomination  to 
the  Governor  for  National  Guard  commissions,  without 


SECOND  MILITARY  REBELLION  137 

limitation  of  their  number.  Juniors  did  not  drill  that 
spring,  and  feeling  rapidly  quieted.  Indeed,  a  few 
years  later  the  only  complaint  was  that  too  little  interest 
was  taken  in  the  department.  The  Illini  thought  the 
slouehiness  of  the  companies  disgraceful,  and  com- 
mented on  the  eagerness  of  everyone  to  skip  drill.  For 
a  time  the  cadet  corps  seemed  dropping  to  the  plane  of 
indifference  and  dislike  that  it  now  holds  in  many  land 
grant  universities.  But  in  1891  the  course  of  affairs  was 
interrupted  by  a  yet  more  serious  military  rebellion,  a 
principal  agency  in  the  ending  of  Peabody's  regency. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  January  term  it  was  discov- 
ered that  W.  G.  Miller,  a  junior,  captain  in  the  battalion, 
was  deficient  in  scholarship.  He  was  allowed  to  con- 
tinue his  studies,  but  under  a  rule  which  had  theretofore 
been  laxly  enforced  was  relieved  of  his  command.  A 
reexamination  left  his  average  grade  still  below  the 
mark  required.  The  sophomores  and  juniors  thereupon 
protested,  reminding  the  faculty  that  Miller  had  been 
a  good  student,  that  other  men  who  had  failed  had  been 
treated  with  more  leniency,  and  that  his  removal  de- 
prived him  of  chance  for  a  State  commission.  When 
the  faculty  remained  obdurate,  all  the  officers  handed 
in  their  resignations,  with  the  threat  that  they  were 
final  unless  Miller  was  reinstated.  This  happened  in 
chapel,  where  the  company  ranks  were  thrown  into  con- 
fusion and  the  halls  were  for  some  time  in  an  uproar. 
The  faculty,  which  had  collective  charge  of  discipline, 
blundered  in  treating  this  insubordination.  It  acted 
properly  in  requiring  an  unconditional  withdrawal  of 
the  resignations  and  of  the  threat  demanding  Miller's 
reinstatement.  It  twice  interviewed  all  the  officers,  and 
the  latter,  after  a  series  of  meetings,  decided  in  the  main 
to  yield.     But  it  was  needlessly  harsh,  and  when  two 


138  YEARS  OF  DEPRESSION 

captains  refused  to  withdraw  their  resignations,  it  sus- 
pended them  for  the  year.  At  once  there  was  another 
burst  of  excitement,  the  whole  student  body  now  feeling 
that  the  Regent  was  treating  them  unjustly. 

The  student  leaders  determined  to  carry  their  case 
before  the  Trustees,  and  the  faculty  strangely  inter- 
posed no  objection,  A  mass  meeting  was  held  at  the 
local  opera  house,  where  most  undergraduates  signed 
an  argumentative  petition  asking  the  Board  to  investi- 
gate and  to  restore  the  two  captains.  The  faculty,  in 
a  statement  to  the  Trustees,  had  meanwhile  explained 
that  they  had  suspended  the  two  men  because  of  the 
grossly  offensive  way  in  which  they  had  presented  their 
resignations,  and  because  they  had  remained  insubordi- 
nate. "The  true  reason,"  recited  the  petition,  "was 
because  they  would  not  acknowledge  a  wrong  they  could 
not  see,  and  withdraw  a  resignation  they  claimed  a 
right  ...  to  present,  and,  in  fact,  disclaim  any  right 
to  protest  against  anything  they  believed  to  be  unjust 
and  partial."  At  the  Trustees'  spring  meeting  com- 
mittees of  the  faculty,  under  Peabody,  and  of  the  stu- 
dents, under  C  A.  Kiler  and  others,  presented  the  two 
sides  of  the  controversy.  The  students  forced  the  Re- 
gent to  admit,  in  the  first  place,  that  there  had  been 
no  less  than  fifty  cases  in  which  officers  whose  scholastic 
standing  fell  below  the  average  had  been  allowed  to 
continue  in  command,  though  Peabody  denied  that 
there  was  any  injustice  in  the  special  action  against 
Miller.  They  affirmed,  again,  that  the  two  captains  had 
offered  to  resign  in  any  form  that  might  be  prescribed 
by  the  faculty — for  resignation,  if  properly  done,  was 
an  undoubted  right.  This  Peabody  contradicted.  In 
the  third  place,  the  students  entered  complete  denials 
of  three  accusations  by  the  Regent:  that  the  two  cap- 


THE  BOARD  ARBITRATES  139 

tains  had  deserted,  that  they  had  tried  to  coerce  the 
faculty  by  their  resignations,  and  that  they  had  made 
no  effort  to  place  themselves  in  a  proper  relation  with 
the  faculty.  The  Trustees  spent  a  whole  day  hearing 
the  case,  in  which  the  faculty  was  plainly  largely  in 
the  right,  but  which  showed  how  wofully  Peabody  had 
lost  his  control  of  the  University. 

The  decision  was  outwardly  a  compromise,  but  virtu- 
ally a  victory  for  the  students.  The  Board  ruled  that 
the  precipitation  with  which  the  officers  presented  their 
resignations  and  the  confusion  into  which  they  threw 
the  classes  were  unintentional.  It  found  that  the 
faculty  had  acted  in  proper  form  in  suspending  the  two 
captains,  and  that  it  had  enforced  the  rules  for  student 
discipline  with  reasonable  impartiality.  But  it  stated 
that  it  believed  that  the  students  were  largely  unac- 
quainted with  these  rules,  and  that  their  action  was 
therefore  expressive  of  ignorance,  not  thoughtlessness. 
The  two  captains  were  to  be  restored  to  their  places, 
and  the  rules  of  discipline  henceforth  to  be  posted  con- 
spicuously. As  Miller  had  already  resumed  his  studies 
with  a  view  to  restoration  in  the  battalion,  nothing  was 
said  of  him.  Small  wonder  that  the  Illini  appeared 
showing  a  rooster  rampant  beside  the  figure  of  a  sol- 
dier !  And  the  Trustees '  action  represented  a  victory  for 
the  discontented  alumni  as  well  as  for  the  students. 
There  were  at  this  time  three  graduates  upon  the  Board 
— S.  A.  Bullard,  George  R.  Shawhan,  and  Francis  M. 
McKay,  who  had  taken  their  places  in  1889,  1887,  and 
1886  respectively ;  and  Mr.  Bullard  was  president.  Two, 
Bullard  and  McKay,  had  been  elected  as  a  direct  result 
of  the  alumni  movement  for  representation,  and  both 
emphatically  shared  the  feeling  among  many  alumni 
that  the  time  had  come  for  a  more  progressive  head  than 


140  YEARS  OF  DEPRESSION 

Peabody.  Their  influence,  and  the  fact  that  student 
feeling  was  so  thoroughly  roused  as  to  threaten  an 
injury  to  the  University,  made  the  Board  willing  to 
seek  a  settlement  that  was  outwardly  a  compromise  but 
really  humiliating  to  the  Regent. 

After  this,  it  was  virtually  impossible  for  faithful 
Dr.  Peabody  to  remain  longer.  His  control  over  the 
students  had  for  some  months  been  so  tenuous  that  he 
was  hissed  as  he  passed  through  the  halls  to  his  office 
or  stood  in  chapel.  When  he  had  returned  from  Eu- 
rope his  first  address  had  been  so  interrupted  that  he 
burst  into  tears.  As  the  University  had  grown  more 
complex,  it  had  more  and  more  become  too  great  a 
burden  for  his  conscientious,  systematic,  and  inelastic 
abilities.  The  man  who  made  out  all  class  cards  and 
final  returns  of  grades  himself,  who  for  years  went 
without  a  secretary,  who  had  no  typewriter  and  no 
other  mechanical  office  aids,  who  made  the  University 
finances  the  subject  of  meticulous  care,  found  the  press 
of  work  gradually  too  much.  His  health  was  breaking 
by  the  end  of  the  year ;  he  could  not  sleep,  and  the  con- 
sciousness that  he  was  not  in  harmony  with  students, 
alumni,  or  Trustees  robbed  him  of  inclination  for  his 
duties.  At  the  June  meeting  in  1891  he  was  renom- 
inated, but  the  Board  tied,  five  members,  including  two 
alumni,  voting  against  him.  The  meaning  was  plain; 
and  after  requesting  that  a  statement  o:^  the  side  of  the 
faculty  in  the  recent  "  military  rebellion  "  be  read  into 
the  minutes  along  with  the  documents  which  the  stu- 
dents had  presented,  he  resigned.  A  committee  was 
appointed  to  find  a  successor.  It  was  doubtless  with 
relief  that  he  laid  down  his  burden  in  the  fall,  for  a 
position  was  waiting  him  as  director  of  the  liberal  arts 
exhibit  at  the  Chicago  World's  Fair. 


IV 
AT  THE  TURNING  POINT 

Burrill's  Steadfast  University  Service.  Improved  State  Sup- 
port. University  Expansion  Upwards.  The  Extension  Experi- 
ment. Summer  School  and  Graduate  Work.  Liberalization  of 
Student  and  Faculty  Life.     Various  Innovations. 

For  the  next  three  years,  from  September,  1891,  to 
the  same  month  in  1894,  Vice  President  Burrill  acted 
as  Regent,  bringing  to  the  place  experience  he  had 
gained  as  temporary  head  during  one  of  Gregory's  ab- 
sences in  Europe,  during  the  months  following  Gregory's 
resignation,  and  during  a  long  vacation  which  Peabody 
had  taken  for  his  health.  He  had  thie  advantage  of 
familiarity  with  the  institution  from  its  beginning,  and 
of  holding  the  complete  trust  of  students  and  faculty. 
His  relations  with  the  last  body,  indeed,  were  of  neces- 
sity cordial,  for  though  he  held  and  usually  exercised 
complete  powers  as  an  executive,  most  administrative 
problems  were  considered  by  the  faculty  as  in  com- 
mittee, and  many  settled  in  this  cooperative  spirit.  The 
years  were  years  of  unprecedented  growth  in  every 
direction.  The  beginnings  of  this  growth,  to  be  sure, 
had  come  in  the  closing  days  of  Peabody 's  administra- 
tion, and  Burrill,  loyal  to  his  old  chief,  always  made 
this  clear.  But  progress  was  obviously  much  more 
rapid  after  he  took  the  helm,  for  an  entirely  new  spirit 
was  breathed  into  all  departments,  and  for  the  first  time 
the  University  had  both  opportunities  and  a  head  with 
imagination  enough  to  make  the  utmost  of  them. 

141 


142  AT  THE  TURNING  POINT 

The  four  outstanding  features  of  Burrill's  adminis- 
tration were  the  wresting  of  unprecedented  appropria- 
tions from  the  Legislature,  the  opening  of  the  graduate 
school,  the  first  sessions  of  the  summer  school,  and  the 
attempted  development  of  extension  teaching.  The  in- 
crease in  the  number  of  students  was  great,  but  may  be 
regarded  as  a  natural  outgrowth  of  existing  causes.  In 
June  of  his  first  year  Burrill  reported  that  583  students 
had  been  enrolled,  64  more  than  the  year  before.  In 
1893  he  reported  a  total  enrollment  of  714,  or  141  more 
than  before.  No  other  prominent  university,  he  claimed, 
had  ever  made  such  large  gains  in  attendance,  though 
the  increase  at  other  Western  institutions  was  at  this 
time  remarkable.  The  year  previous,  the  Illini  had  re- 
proached the  University  with  the  fact  that  there  were 
over  three  hundred  Illinoisans  at  the  University  of 
Michigan;  now  at  last  it  was  beginning  to  absorb  the 
youth  from  its  own  State.  In  the  year  ending  1894,  this 
total  was  maintained,  718  students  being  enrolled.  The 
college  of  engineering  gained  most  in  this,  electrical 
engineering  in  particular  leaping  up  nearly  200  per 
cent.  The  gain  the  last  year  would  have  been  greater 
but  for  the  attractions  held  forth  by  the  University  of 
Chicago,  which,  with  a  rich  endowment  and  a  faculty 
of  unusual  strength,  had  suddenly  come  into  first  place 
in  the  State  in  number  of  registrants.  A  slight  factor 
in  the  new  enrollment  at  Illinois  was  perhaps  the  con- 
fidence which  the  people  reposed  in  the  acting  Regent, 
whose  activities  in  connection  with  the  experimental 
farm  had  made  him  familiar  to  them. 

The  great  leap  in  appropriations  was  the  result  of 
bold  demands  made  by  Burrill,  and  of  the  increased 
friendliness  of  the  State  Administration,  now  headed  by 
the  radical  Democrat,  John  P.  Altgeld.    The  acting  Re- 


LARGER  FUNDS  143 

gent  had  no  patience  with  the  older  practice  of  asking 
for  the  bare  necessities  of  existence,  and  in  early  1893 
induced  the  Board  to  put  in  an  application  for  not  less 
than  $551,500.  Of  this  the  largest  part  was  for  build- 
ings— a  library,  an  engineering  hall,  and  a  museum.  As 
the  Democrats  had  proposed  to  make  a  record  for  econ- 
omy, the  University  watched  the  reception  of  its  request 
in  Springfield  with  much  trepidation.  The  Senate  com- 
mittee more  than  justified  its  fears  by  voting  to  elimi- 
nate the  amount  for  new  buildings  and  to  reduce  the 
general  funds  to  the  old  figure — that  is,  to  report  a  bill 
for  $96,000.  Fortunately,  Henry  M.  Dunlap,  an 
alumnus,  had  been  newly  elected  to  the  Senate,  and  was 
able  to  have  the  chairman  defer  reporting  the  bill  out 
on  the  floor,  and  to  bring  the  pressure  both  of  Burrill 
and  of  Altgeld  to  bear.  He  threatened  also  to  attack 
the  Democratic  committeemen  as  preferring  to  spend 
money  on  penitentiaries  rather  than  on  education.  A 
second  committee  meeting  was  as  friendly  to  the  Uni- 
versity as  the  first  had  been  hostile,  and  the  body  finally 
recommended  the  $120,000  asked  for  expenses  of  instruc- 
tion and  $160,000  for  an  engineering  hall.  The  measure 
as  passed  therefore  carried  a  total  of  $295,700,  or  more 
than  twice  as  much  as  ever  before. 

This  permitted  both  a  large  increase  in  faculty  and 
fairer  treatment  of  faculty  members.  In  the  winter  of 
1892  Burrill  had  reported  the  instruction  as  given  by  26 
of  professorial  grade,  and  12  subordinates,  all  hard- 
working and  ill-paid.  The  next  fall  he  reported  as 
against  this  total  of  36  a  faculty  of  48 — an  increase  of 
one-third.  The  annual  salary  roll  had  been  $61,445,  and 
was  now  $76,080,  of  which  $3,850  represented  not  new 
but  increased  salaries.  New  departments  had  been 
formed  in  philosophy,  economics  and  sociology,  physiol- 


144  AT  THE  TURNING  POINT 

ogy,  and  physical  culture  for  women,  while  pedagogy 
had  been  given  a  separate  head,  and  for  a  time  figured 
as  a  distinct  "course."  A  year  later  there  were  71 
names  on  the  faculty  roll ;  among  the  accessions  at  about 
this  time  were  David  Kinley,  T.  A.  Clark,  E.  J.  Town- 
send,  A.  H.  Daniels,  L.  P.  Breckinridge,  E.  B.  Greene, 
J.  M.  White,  and  D.  K.  Dodge.  Practically  the  present 
system  of  faculty  grades  was  adopted,  while  early  in 
1894  a  Trustees'  committee  on  salaries  drew  up  a  scale 
by  which  deans  should  be  paid  up  to  $2,500,  professors 
up  to  $2,250,  associate  professors  up  to  $2,000,  and  so 
on.  Above  all,  Burrill  was  insistent  on  the  grant  of  a 
new  freedom  to  professors.  They  were  not  now  engaged 
or  discharged  in  June,  but  March,  so  that  they  could 
terminate  old  contracts  in  the  one  case  or  hunt  new 
positions  in  the  other.  The  senseless,  little-heeded  rule 
requiring  a  grant  of  leave  for  absence  in  vacations  was 
repealed.  A  sabbatical  year  on  half  salary  for  full  pro- 
fessors was  recommended,  though  Burrill  admitted  that 
there  were  insufficient  funds  for  this.  Through  the 
appointment  of  committees  with  standing  duties,  the 
faculty  was  given  a  share  in  the  administration  at  which 
Peabody  would  have  gasped.  As  for  teaching,  hence- 
forth Burrill  directed  that  every  effort  should  be  made 
to  make  the  professor  feel  "that  those  in  authority  have 
faith  in  him,  and  that  he  is  to  be  judged  mainly  by 
results."^ 

When  Burrill  took  office,  an  entirely  new  organization 
had  already  been  planned.  With  the  money  from  the 
Morrill  Supplementary  Act  in  prospect,  announcement 


*  The  enlarged  faculty  brought  men  from  all  over  the  country, 
and  their  experience  with  academic  methods  and  outlook  else- 
where removed  from  the  University's  administration  a  certain 
parochial  quality  that  had  marked  it. 


INSTRUCTION  REORGANIZED  145 

had  been  made  for  1891-92  of  a  division  of  the  colleges 
into  courses  (really  departments)  not  schools,  and  of 
additions  to  the  number  of  these  courses.  In  engi- 
neering the  electrical  courses  were  made  a  new  depart- 
ment. In  literature  and  science  four  departments  had 
been  announced — English  and  science,  Latin  and 
science,  ancient  languages,  and  the  school  of  philosophy 
and  pedagogy  before  referred  to,  which  was  placed 
under  Charles  DeGarmo,  soon  to  become  president  of 
Swarthmore.  Latin  and  Greek,  French  and  German, 
had  been  completely  disentangled.  Enlarged  instruc- 
tion had  been  offered  in  physics,  and  other  scientific 
studies  arranged  more  logically.  One  question  of  policy 
which  this  expansion  raised  Dr.  Burrill  dealt  with  in 
the  sensible  way.  "Shall  the  departments  be  divided 
to  such  an  extent,"  he  asked,  ''that  the  chief  can  give 
all  or  most  of  the  instruction,  or  shall  he  have  associate 
and  subordinate  assistance  in  a  larger  subdivision  of 
the  University?  The  former  plan  has  prevailed  here- 
tofore. It  seems  to  me  that  the  latter  is  now,  at  least, 
the  better  plan  to  adopt,"  and  adopted  it  was.  Before 
the  end  of  the  interregnum,  with  electrical  engineering 
had  been  added  a  department  of  municipal  and  sanitary 
engineering,  under  Prof.  A.  N.  Talbot,  and  courses  in 
architectural  engineering.  On  the  other  hand,  under 
Burrill  the  course  in  mining  engineering  came  to  its 
end  for  the  century.  After  the  reorganization  of  the 
department  in  1885,  having  been  operated  with  little 
success  for  four  years,  it  was,  on  the  resignation  of 
Prof.  Comstock,  allowed  to  lie  dormant.  Prof.  Baldwin's 
acceptance  of  the  place  two  years  later  gave  Burrill  op- 
portunity to  recommend  specialization  in  coal  mining, 
but  the  merest  handful  of  students  elected  the  work,  and 
in  1893  Baldwin  resigned  in  disgust,  declaring  that  the 


146  AT  THE  TURNING  POINT 

University's  surroundings  precluded  any  development 
of  it. 

The  increase  in  curriculum  made  possible  two  innova- 
tions: the  change  to  the  elective  system  and  the  found- 
ing of  the  graduate  school.  In  the  colleges  of  natural 
science  and  literature  and  science  a  considerable  free- 
dom of  choice  was  now,  in  obedience  to  a  national  trend, 
allowed — a  few  subjects  only  being  required;  while  in 
both  colleges  students  could  pursue  specific  branches 
farther  than  before.  Three  years  instead  of  one  or  two 
might  now  be  given  to  botany,  zoology,  French,  German, 
and  Greek,  while  Spanish  and  Italian  were  added  anew. 
The  liberalization  of  the  colleges  went  on  till  matters 
were  on  much  the  same  basis,  considering  the  limited 
facilities,  as  noAV.  It  may  be  added  that  in  1893-94  the 
preparatory  school  was  reorganized  with  a  principal,  its 
own  staff,  and  two  years'  work. 

Graduate  courses  were  advocated  by  Burrill  as  soon 
as  he  entered  upon  the  acting  Regency.  Even  a  few 
graduate  students,  he  thought,  would  give  a  new  quality 
to  undergraduate  work,  would  add  to  the  reputation  of 
the  University,  and  would  furnish  a  corps  from  which 
assistants  might  be  chosen.  Research,  too,  would  be 
stimulated  in  a  way  valuable  to  the  teaching  force.  In 
1891-92  the  graduate  school  was  instituted,  and  two 
years  later  placed  under  a  committee  consisting  of 
Regent  and  deans.  Already  the  University  had  given 
masters'  degrees  on  a  loose  requirement  embodying  the 
presentation  of  a  thesis,  and  it  now  provided  that  after 
1894  these  be  granted  only  to  those  who  had  completed 
a  prescribed  course  under  the  direction  of  the  faculty, 
and  equivalent  to  one  year's  work  on  full  time.  Grad- 
uates of  Illinois,  but  not  of  other  institutions,  might 
study  in  absentia,  and  receive  degree  after  three  years. 


EXTENSION  LECTURING  147 

During  the  first  year  there  were  eight  graduate  or 
pseudo-graduate  students,  during  the  second  nine,  and 
during  the  third  twenty-two,  of  which  last  group  ten 
were  doing  true  graduate  work — that  is,  advanced  study 
on  the  lines  pursued  as  undergraduates.  In  this  third 
year  conditions  were  published  upon  which  a  doctorate 
in  philosophy  might  be  conferred,  but  for  a  long  time  no 
candidate  was  enrolled.  This  prompt  initiation  of  ad- 
vanced study  is  an  indication  of  the  intellectual  ambi- 
tions and  ideals  which  had  been  growing  in  fervor 
during  the  outwardly  discouraging  last  years  under 
Peabody,^ 

The  experiment  in  extension  work  was  brief  and  abor- 
tive. Five  years  before  Burrill  took  his  seat  university 
extension  was  first  brought  to  America  from  England, 
and  described  at  a  library  conference  at  Albany,  New 
York.  In  1889  Columbia  announced  elementary  courses 
in  science  for  teachers  in  or  near  New  York,  in  1891  the 
first  State  appropriation — $10,000 — for  university  ex- 
tension was  made  by  New  York,  and  the  same  year 
work  was  begun  by  an  American  Society  for  the  Exten- 
sion of  University  Teaching  organized  in  1890  in  Phila- 
delphia, under  the  presidency  of  Dr.  E.  J.  James,  of 
that  city.  The  subject  had  been  much  discussed  all  over 
the  country,  the  faculty  was  eager  to  attempt  it,  and  the 
Trustees  were  acquiescent.  In  the  late  autumn  of  1891 
a  meeting  was  held  in  Chicago  of  representatives  of  a 
number  of  Western  institutions — Chicago,  Northwestern, 
Beloit,  Lake  Forest,  Wisconsin,  Wabash,  and  In- 
diana— with  Illinois  represented  by  Burrill,  Forbes,  and 
Moss.  An  extension  association  was  formed ;  but  it  was 
decided  that  each  institution  should  be  left  free  to  act 
upon  its  o'wn  adopted  methods.    The  association  was  to 

*  A  small  number  of  fellowships  were  granted  at  $400  each. 


148  AT  THE  TURNING  POINT 

serve  merely  as  a  central  bureau,  advertising  and  co- 
ordinating the  whole,  and  to  a  limited  extent  making 
arrangements  with  local  centers.  Each  institution  was 
to  submit  the  names  of  its  lecturers  and  their  subjects, 
and  the  towns  and  cities  of  the  region  were  to  be  given, 
so  far  as  practicable,  their  choice  of  the  whole.  Already 
Illinois  had  made  some  arrangements  for  a  lecture 
course  in  the  Twin  Cities,  and  the  Trustees  now  granted 
$500  for  preliminary  expenses.  By  the  spring  of  1892 
a  small  beginning  had  been  made.  Various  professors 
had  lectured  in  chapel  before  the  townspeople.  Butler, 
of  the  English  department,  had  gone  to  Oak  Park, 
Chicago,  Rockford,  La  Salle,  Rock  Island,  and  else- 
where ;  and  other  faculty  men  had  appeared  in  various 
centers.  In  all,  a  thousand  people  were  computed  to 
have  attended  twelve  different  courses;  while  some 
work  was  also  done  at  the  annual  county  teachers' 
institutes. 

For  the  next  year  twenty-one  courses  were  offered, 
ranging  from  household  chemistry  to  Greek  literature. 
The  one  year  builders'  course  in  elementary  architec- 
ture had  just  been  discontinued;  but  a  determined 
renewal  of  former  efforts  to  reach  young  farmers  was 
now  made  in  the  institution  of  a  short  winter  term 
course  ip.  agriculture  open  to  all  over  eighteen  years  of 
age,  and  attended  the  first  year  by  more  than  a  score. 
Yet  despite  the  fact  that  a  special  circular  was  published 
for  the  extension  work,  it  did  not  thrive.  Some  of  the 
obstacles  were  those  met  in  other  institutions  at  the  same 
time — insufficiency  of  funds,  the  inability  of  all  teachers 
to  adapt  themselves  to  their  audiences,  the  inadequacy 
of  the  general  administrative  plan.  The  Trustees  au- 
thorized active  measures  to  revive  a  flagging  public 
interest,  but  they  refused  money  for  a  University  ex- 


"WOMEN  STUDENTS  149 

tension  magazine,  and  so  few  applications  for  courses 
were  received  that  the  faculty  gradually  let  the  whole 
scheme  lapse.  One  special  obstacle  would  indeed  have 
been  hard  to  overcome — the  fact  that  the  full  energies 
of  the  faculty  were  required  by  the  demand  for  more 
work  at  home.  Though  two  of  her  neighbors,  "Wisconsin 
and  Chicago,  went  on  to  make  of  extension  work  a 
great  success,  Illinois  found  her  farmers'  short  course 
alone  a  permanent  feature.  In  1893-94jthe__faculty 
turned  to  plans  for  a  summer  scHooI  to  be  held  during 
the  vacation  of  the  latter  y^ear. .__ __— - — -^^ 

In  the  form  in  which  these  plans  were  approved  by  the 
Trustees,  they  called  for  instruction  in  English,  several 
of  the  sciences,  mathematics,  the  social  science,  pedagogy, 
and  psychology.  The  term  was  to  last  four  weeks,  and 
to  cost  $10  in  tuition ;  $1,200  was  appropriated  to  cover 
the  expenses  that  fees  would  not  meet.  "Under  the 
direction  of  the  capable  Prof.  Frank  M.  McMurry,  the 
first  session  was  considered  a  success.  Nearly  two  score 
were  enrolled,  nine  or  ten  instructors  were  employed  at 
one-tenth  their  annual  salaries,  and  enough  experience 
was  gained  to  show  that  the  best  policy  was  to  offer 
studies  appealing  to  teachers.  It  was  felt  that  at- 
tendance would  have  been  much  larger  had  the  school 
been  better  advertised. 

This  brief  period  was  notable  for  the  increased  interest  / 
taken  in  the  demands  of  the  women.  At  the  outset  the 
Trustees  were  petitioned  by  the  students  for  the  ap- 
pointment of  some  woman  as  professor,  and  in  1892 
over  250  Peoria  County  women  asked  for  the  reestab- 
lishment  of  the  domestic  science  courses.  The  same 
year  the  alumnas  asked  that  more  instruction  in  the 
social  sciences  be  afforded  young  women,  that  the  courses 
in  music  and  art  be  extended  and  placed  on  a  better 


150  AT  THE  TURNING  POINT 

basis,  that  plans  be  made  for  giving  the  girls  better 
physical  facilities,  and  that  there  be  more  oversight  of 
their  general  life;  while  shortly  after  they  also  peti- 
tioned that  a  representative  woman  be  made  professor, 
and  suggested  that  a  cottage  to  accommodate  not  over 
fifty  be  added  to  the  buildings  requested  of  the  Legis- 
lature. Thus  assailed,  the  faculty  manifested  a  greater 
concern  in  the  matter.  One  demand  was  partially  met 
when  Miss  Katharine  Merrill  was  made  assistant  pro- 
fessor of  English.  A  beginning  was  made  in  answering 
another  when  Miss  Merrill  presented  the  Trustees,  early 
in  1893,  with  the  syllabus  of  a  four  years'  domestic 
science  course,  founded  on  the  basis  of  similar  courses 
in  the  East  and  at  the  University  of  Chicago.  Most  of 
the  subjects  were  already  included  in  the  University  cur- 
riculum; the  chief  innovations  consisted  in  scientific 
work  in  nutrition,  which  would  have  required  special 
laboratories  and  teachers. 

For  the  physical  and  social  comfort  of  the  women 
Burrill  had  a  practical  regard,  but  little  could  be  done. 
He  closed  his  term  with  an  urgent  request  for  a  woman 's 
gymnasium.  He  did  not  think  it  feasible  to  provide  a 
residence  hall  while  other  wants  were  pressing,  but  he 
recommended  to  the  Twin  Cities  that  it  would  be  a  good 
business  venture  for  some  company  to  undertake  a  din- 
ing hall  and  group  of  cottages.  He  believed  that  there 
were  too  few  women — that  they  ought  to  aggregate  one- 
third  the  whole  student  body,  as  at  Michigan.  But  he 
and  others  felt  the  obvious  disadvantages  under  which 
they  labored,  and  those  likewise  which  were  not  so  ob- 
vious, as  expressed  in  Miss  Merrill's  statement  that  "so 
long  as  conditions  of  living  are  so  hard,  here,  especially 
for  the  young  women,  and  so  long  as  there  is  no  social 
atmosphere  in  which  the  students,  as  students,  belong 


NEW  BUILDINGS  151 

.  .  .  neither  the  young  men  nor  the  young  women  will 
take  the  pains  they  owe  themselves,  and  the  social  status 
of  our  students  will  continue  low. ' ' 

Of  the  two  buildings  in  which  Burrill  was  interested, 
the  Natural  History  Building  was  completed  in  the 
fall  of  1892,  but  was  not  fully  furnished  till  a  year 
later.  The  Engineering  Building  was  commenced  the 
fall  of  the  former  year  upon  plans  drawn  by  George  W. 
Bullard,  an  alumnus  in  the  West,  and  with  a  Pacific 
Coast  contractor — for  the  architectural  graduates  of  the 
University  had  no  sooner  learned  that  the  money  for  it 
had  been  granted  than  they  had  petitioned  that  the  com- 
petition for  designs  be  restricted  to  them,  and  this  was 
done.  The  building  was  urgently  needed,  for  the  num- 
ber of  engineering  students  had  been  increasing  for  some 
years  at  the  rate  of  25  per  cent,  annually;  and  the 
Trustees  repeatedly  reminded  the  contractors  of  their 
engagement  to  have  it  ready  the  fall  of  1894.  When 
Burrill  went  out  of  office,  he  left  a  list  of  the  new 
buildings  that  he  and  the  Trustees  agreed  were  needed 
and  must  soon  be  asked  for — a  library,  museum,  audi- 
torium, agricultural  and  law  buildings,  and  an  observa- 
tory. Of  these  the  library  was  considered  the  most 
urgent,  for  that  neglected  part  of  the  University, 
cramped  in  its  dark  quarters  in  University  Hall,  was 
now  the  recipient  of  $5,000  a  year,  and  in  the  last  days 
of  Burrill 's  term  steps  were  taken  towards  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  first  full-time  librarian. 

The  acting  Regent's  general  spirit  of  enterprise  was 
exhibited  in  a  number  of  ways.  Under  him  the  Uni- 
versity subscribed  for  400  copies  of  the  Illini,  distribut- 
ing them  as  an  advertisement,  and  he  asked  the  stu- 
dents to  write  on  University  happenings  for  their  home 
papers.    He  suggested  that  the  University  buy  sites  for 


153  AT  THE  TURNING  POINT 

faculty  homes  and  offer  them  for  sale  at  reasonable 
rates.  He  had  an  extraordinarily  large  exhibit  made  at 
the  World's  Fair — ''by  far  the  most  extensive  and  most 
representative  shown  by  any  institution,"  he  reported. 
The  whole  was  planned  and  executed  by  University 
men,  and  required  nine  cars  for  its  transportation.  Dr. 
Burrill  and  the  faculty  also  allowed  the  free  develop- 
ment of  student  life  in  a  way  before  unknown.  The 
discipline  was  less  irritating;  fraternities  were  tacitly 
encouraged ;  the  art,  chemistry,  glee,  and  mandolin  clubs 
appeared,  and  the  last  two  were  allowed  to  give  concerts 
in  neighboring  cities.  The  first  Junior  Prom  was  held 
by  the  students  during  this  period.  Upon  petition  of 
the  Seniors,  the  requirement  of  student  orations  at  com- 
mencement was  abandoned,  and  the  commencement  ad- 
dress was  given  instead  by  a  guest  of  honor.  Finally,  in 
1892,  Burrill  appointed  a  committee  to  confer  with  the 
local  mayors  upon  the  establishment  of  a  union  high 
school,  to  supplant  the  preparatory  department. 


THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

Draper  an  Administrator,  not  a  Scholar.  Increased  Appro- 
priations. Defalcation  of  Spalding.  The  College  of  Law. 
Growth  of  the  Chicago  Departments.  Development  of  Curricu- 
lum and  Equipment.  Administrative  Improvements.  The  Com- 
ing of  Davenport  and  the  Rise  of  the  Agricultural  College.  The 
Engineering  Experiment  Station.  Fuller  Student  Life.  The 
New  State  Confidence. 

Andrew  Sloan  Draper  was  not  the  first  choice  of 
the  Trustees  as  the  new  head;  the  post  was  offered  to 
Washington  Gladden  and,  informally,  to  Edmund  J. 
James,  both  of  whom  declined.  Dr.  James  took  the  view 
that  a  man  of  aggressive  energy  and  purely  executive 
talents  was  needed,  and  that  after  he  had  done  his  work 
in  bringing  the  State  behind  the  University  the  personal 
opposition  inevitably  roused  in  the  process  would  proba- 
bly make  his  retirement  advisable.  Dr.  Draper  did  not 
accept  without  some  misgivings,  though  these  were  con- 
nected chiefly  with  the  fact  that  he  was  not  a  University 
man. 

The  essential  qualifications  of  the  new  President — 
for  by  this  title  he  had  insisted  upon  being  called — were 
his  practical  experience  in  public  positions  and  his 
administrative  grasp.  He  had  had  the  fullest  acquaint- 
ance with  both  educators  and  legislators;  he  knew  the 
intricacies  of  politics,  and  his  personality  found  apt 
political  expression.  When  he  came  to  the  University 
he  was  forty-four  years  old.  The  son  of  a  western 
New  York  farmer,   his  first   occupation   had  been  as 

153 


154        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

newsboy  in  Albany.  He  began  teaching  school  at 
eighteen,  but  later  studied  law  and  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  1871.  Before  he  was  thirty  he  had  established  a 
practice,  become  well  known  as  a  political  speaker,  and 
been  head  of  the  Order  of  Good  Templars  in  the  State. 
FolloAving  service  on  the  Albany  Board  of  Education, 
in  the  State  Legislature,  and  on  the  Federal  Court  of 
Alabama  Claims,  in  1886  he  was  chosen  by  the  Legisla- 
ture as  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction. 
Six  years  later  he  became  superintendent  of  the  Cleve- 
land schools,  and  was  thence  called  to  Illinois. 

He  was  a  man  of  simplicity,  directness,  of  firmness 
of  will  and  unswerving  insistence  on  his  aims,  and  of 
broad  vision  remarkably  free  from  prejudices.  The 
downright  quality  about  him  was  unmistakable;  when 
he  had  once  taken  a  position  his  friends  and  enemies 
knew  where  he  stood.  He  believed  in  plainness  but  sub- 
stantiality: if  he  bought  equipment  it  was  of  the  best, 
and  if  he  had  some  University  work  that  required 
expert  direction  he  was  willing  to  search  the  country 
for  the  best  assistance  obtainable.  If  a  building  was 
to  be  erected,  he  wished  the  plans  perfected,  the  ma- 
terials ready,  the  ground  surveyed,  and  the  money  ap- 
propriated before  earth  was  turned.  Into  his  political 
dealings  he  carried  the  same  traits,  and  when  he  had 
once  taken  stand  on  a  principle  he  was  not  to  be  moved 
from  it  by  trickery,  chicanery,  or  compromise.  His 
courage  was  never  doubted.  At  the  same  time,  there 
was  a  sterner  element  that  united  with  his  purposeful- 
ness  in  making  enemies,  for  he  seldom  forgave  an 
injury,  seldom  lost  a  dislike,  and  seldom  had  any  sym- 
pathy for  weakness  in  others.  He  never  forgot  in  his 
administration  that  he  had  one  prime  deficiency — his 
lack  of  higher  education.    With  but  three  years  at  the 


President  Andrew  Sloan  Dkatlk 


DRAPER'S  EQUIPMENT  155 

Boys'  Academy  in  Albany  and  the  Albany  Law  School 
to  supplement  his  early  education,  he  could  never  be- 
come a  scholar.  He  was  not  versed  in  languages;  he 
did  not  know  literature  and  had  little  taste  for  it  for  its 
own  sake.  He  read  little  poetry;  he  was  capable  of 
blundering  in  talking  about  the  classics,  and  was  said 
never  to  have  read  but  one  novel — "David  Harum." 
He  had  explored  with  thoroughness  very  few  fields 
of  knowledge.  Though  accustomed  for  many  years  to 
select  and  guide  teachers,  he  had  little  sympathy  with 
pure  pedagogy,  and  was  not  qualified  in  himself  to  plan 
in  detail  full  courses  of  study.  But  he  was  a  man  of 
culture  in  a  very  real  sense,  for  he  knew  law,  he  was 
a  great  reader  of  history,  and  he  had  a  rare  intel- 
lectual curiosity  and  a  knack  of  securing  from  others 
knowledge  that  he  had  not  found  for  himself.  He  was 
an  excellent  public  speaker,  fluent  and  correct,  and  a 
plain  but  cogent  and  forceful  writer.  Above  all,  his 
consciousness  of  his  defects  made  him  deferential  to  the 
real  scholar  when  such  deference  was  to  the  best  inter- 
ests of  the  University;  for  Dr.  Draper  was  never  ac- 
cused of  educational  narrowness.  For  the  major  ques- 
tions of  policy  that  he  had  to  treat,  a  detailed  scholarly 
equipment  was  as  nothing  beside  the  unusual  qualifica- 
tions he  possessed.  And  no  readers  of  his  volumes  of 
"Addresses  and  Papers"  and  "Holiday  Papers"  can 
doubt  that  he  possessed  very  uncommon  intellectual  as 
well  as  executive  force. 

The  grasp  he  at  once  manifested  of  the  problems  be- 
fore him  greatly  pleased  the  Trustees.  "To  enable  the 
University  to  advance  to  a  leading  position,"  he  said 
in  his  letter  of  acceptance,  "it  must  have  financial  aid 
to  an  extent  which  would  have  surprised  the  last  gen- 
eration,   for    the    field   of    University   operations    has 


156        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

broadened  as  the  activities  of  the  people  have  multiplied 
and  become  more  intense;  it  must  have  adequate  ac- 
commodations and  liberal  equipment;  its  departments 
must  be  able  to  supply  life-giving  instruction  to  all 
branches  of  liberal  learning ;  its  work  must  attract  atten- 
tion, it  must  be  authoritative  and  command  respect,  it 
must  show  anxiety  and  ability  to  stimulate  the  common 
life  of  the  people,  and  bring  renown  to  the  good  name 
of  the  State."  More  specifically,  he  expressed  his  con- 
viction that  the  University  must  ask  for  much  larger 
appropriations,  must  raise  its  entrance  requirements, 
must  do  more  work  in  research,  and  must  improve  the 
social  conditions  in  the  Twin  Cities  as  they  affected  the 
University.  The  committee  that  had  searched  three 
years  for  a  President  felt  that  driving  power  was 
needed  behind  Just  these  beliefs.  The  interregnum  had 
shown  the  progressiveness  of  the  faculty;  the  State  ad- 
ministration was  favorable  to  the  institution ;  and  signs 
the  country  over  pointed  to  a  great  development  of 
education,  and  especially  of  the  State  Universities.  It 
was  a  critical  moment,  and  one  in  which  the  earnest- 
ness, energy,  and  acumen  of  the  new  President  meant 
everything. 

In  his  first  speech  to  the  students  Dr.  Draper  showed 
himself  capable  of  winning  their  regard  and  enlisting 
their  interest  in  his  progressive  plans.  The  University, 
he  said,  was  still  in  its  youth,  and  it  would  take  pa- 
tience and  hard  work  to  make  it  great,  but  the  time 
required  could  be  materially  shortened  by  hearty  co- 
operation. He  remarked  that  one  difficulty  was  that 
those  connected  with  Illinois  had  taken  too  little  pride 
in  it:  the  students  should  write  of  it  as  often  as  they 
could  to  friends,  to  their  home  papers,  and  to  public 
men  of  the  State.    He  would  expect  them  to  lift  their 


ALTGELD'S  ASSISTANCE  157 

hats  when  they  met  him  on  the  street,  while,  for  his  part, 
he  hoped  to  become  personally  acquainted  with  them 
all — a  promise  he  made  good.  "I  shall  always  feel  it 
to  be  my  duty  to  be  interested  in  whatever  you  are 
interested  in,  whether  it  be  a  baseball,  a  football,  or  any 
other  match,  and  hope  often  to  be  on  the  grounds,  and 
cheer  our  team  if  we  win,  and  come  home  in  sorrow  if 
we  lose."  With  the  fraternities  the  President  shortly 
put  himself  on  a  friendly  footing.  He  was  keenly  inter- 
ested in  all  the  group  activities  of  the  students,  and 
constantly  preached  university  spirit  to  them.  He 
helped  see  to  the  adoption  of  the  University  colors,  en- 
couraged the  movement  for  athletic  coaching,  and  pre- 
served discipline  in  a  manly  way.  The  grounds  were 
beautified  at  his  express  wish,  and  he  had  the  Presi- 
dent's house  built  rather  with  the  idea  of  making  it  a 
center  for  students  and  faculty  than  of  adding  to  his 
own  comfort. 

It  was  a  large  factor  in  the  success  of  Dr.  Draper's 
first  years  that  John  P.  Altgeld  was  in  the  Governor's 
chair  when  he  took  his  seat.  Altgeld  was  the  first  State 
executive  to  realize  that  the  interests  of  the  people  were 
bound  up  with  making  the  University  powerful  and 
comprehensive — as  he  expressed  it  in  one  executive  mes- 
sage, "a  complete  university  in  the  highest  meaning  of 
the  term."  On  the  first  day  of  the  President's  service, 
he  came  to  Urbana  to  see  him.  "He  talked  of  the  things 
he  wanted  done,"  said  Dr.  Draper;  "they  were  good 
things  to  do  and  showed  that  his  sympathies  were  gen- 
uine and  that  he  had  given  not  a  little  thought  to  an 
involved  and  rather  depressed  situation.  He  wanted 
more  buildings,  more  teachers,  more  students,  more 
carrying  of  liberal  learning  to  all  the  people  and  all 
the  interests  of  the  State,  and  much  more  money  to  do 


158        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

things  with.  It  was  a  little  surprising  to  hear  a  live 
Governor  talk  like  that,"  He  reassured  Draper,  who 
was  a  conservative  Eepublican,  that  there  was  nothing 
in  his  radical  political  views  to  alarm  the  University. 
Altgeld,  indeed,  was  not  the  anarchist  he  was  reputed 
to  be — he  was  never  more  than  a  progressive  with  an 
intense  belief  in  democracy  and  the  rights  of  the  poor. 
It  is  true  that  he  felt  for  the  unfortunate  too  blindly, 
that  he  hated  his  opponents  unreasonably,  and  that  he 
read  too  much  German  Socialism,  but  this  never  af- 
fected the  work  he  did  for  the  University.  He  was 
the  first  Governor  to  attend  as  many  Trustees'  meetings 
as  possible,  and  to  visit  the  University  frequently;  and 
he  and  Draper  were  soon  fast  friends. 

Upon  one  fact  he  and  the  President  were  emphatically 
agreed — the  deplorable  one-sidedness  of  the  University's 
development.  The  agricultural  college  was  improving, 
the  engineering  college  one  of  the  first  in  the  West 
and  of  the  three  largest  in  the  country,  the  college  of 
science  favorably  known  for  its  research;  but  the  Uni- 
versity was  so  ill-equipped  for  the  teaching  of  literature, 
history,  the  languages,  business,  economics,  and  law  that 
no  far-sighted  student  would  attend  it  to  pursue  these 
branches.  Altgeld  sympathized  with  those  of  limited 
means  as  much  as  he  disliked  the  rich,  and  he  reasoned 
that  endowed  universities  were  likely  to  be  open  ex- 
clusively to  the  well-to-do.  He  wished  all  the  poor  youth 
of  the  State  to  have  the  same  educational  opportunities 
as  children  of  the  wealthy,  and  believed  that  only 
a  well-supported,  well-rounded  State  institution  could 
guarantee  this.  Nor  did  he  wish  to  strengthen  the  lib- 
eral studies  alone,  but  he  thought  that  no  matter  what 
advanced  or  professional  training  an  Illinoisan  might 
desire,  he  ought  not  to  feel  it  necessary  to  leave 'the 


RICHER  NEIGHBORS  159 

State-supported  schools ;  and  he  lent  his  whole  support 
to  the  policy  of  expansion  which  was  to  found  the  law 
school,  the  medical  school,  the  schools  of  pharmacy  and 
dentistry,  and  to  strengthen  the  graduate  school.  He 
was  undoubtedly  helped  in  this  by  two  factors :  the  feel- 
ing in  Springfield  that  it  would  be  well  if  the  Dem- 
ocrats could  claim  to  have  been  the  first  to  put  the  State 
University  upon  its  feet,  and  the  slight  nettling  of  legis- 
lative pride  by  the  huge  growth  of  the  University  of 
Chicago  under  the  Rockefeller  and  other  millions. 

There  was  the  further  consideration  that  other  States 
were  rapidly  leaving  Illinois  far  to  the  rear.  The  Uni- 
versity of  Ohio  had  an  income  in  1894  of  $185,000,  with 
a  guarantee  of  a  tax  of  one -twentieth  mill.  Michigan 
realized  $400,000  annually  from  a  tax  of  one-sixth  mill, 
and  Wisconsin  had  two  taxes  of  fractions  of  mills,  pay- 
ing $260,000  annually,  with  liberal  building  appropria- 
tions besides;  the  first  had  2,800  students  and  the  sec- 
ond 1,500.  Minnesota  had  a  tax  of  three-twentieths  of 
a  mill,  and  had  just  been  given  $200,000  for  buildings. 
To  Missouri  had  been  appropriated  $1,500,000  since 
1891,  and  California  had  just  received  $400,000  for  its 
engineering  college  alone.  The  reproach  to  Illinois, 
wealthier  and  more  populous  than  any  of  the  States 
thus  represented,  was  patent,  and  was  emphasized  by 
the  fact  that  while  the  State  was  receiving  550  students 
yearly  from  its  neighbors,  it  was  sending  1,150  outside 
for  college  training.  In  nearly  all  the  commonwealths 
there  was  just  then  beginning  a  marked  tendency  to- 
wards higher  expenditure,  and  the  time  had  come  for 
the  University  to  ask  its  share. 

Altgeld  soon  had  an  opportunity  to  redeem  his  prom- 
ises to  Draper.  In  the  spring  of  1905  the  University 
asked  the  Legislature  for  a  total  of  $502,300,  the  prin- 


160        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

eipal  items  being  for  a  library,  a  President's  house,  a 
heating  plant,  an  observatory,  and  $180,000  for  operat- 
ing expenses  for  the  biennium.  Senator  Dunlap  guided 
the  bill  through  the  upper  chamber  without  trouble,  but 
the  House  leaders  demanded  the  striking  out  of  the 
appropriation  for  the  library.  "While  Dunlap,  through 
friends  in  the  House,  had  action  deferred.  President 
Draper,  Prof.  Burrill,  and  Mr.  Pillsbury  reached 
Springfield  after  an  all-night  journey  in  a  hack  and 
local  train,  and  at  seven  o  'clock  telephoned  Gov.  Altgeld 
of  the  danger  to  the  most  important  feature  of  the  bill. 
Altgeld  promised  to  bring  the  Democrats  on  the  appro- 
priations committee  into  line  if  the  three  would  split 
the  Republican  opposition,  and  this  was  done.  Com- 
mittee action  had  already  been  taken  to  place  in  the 
House  bill  certain  small  items,  as  for  the  observatory, 
which  had  been  omitted  in  the  Senate  bill;  and  when 
the  library  was  again  provided  for,  the  measure  the 
House  received  for  passage  actually  carried  more  than 
had  the  measure  which  Dunlap  pushed  through  the 
upper  body.  House  leaders  were  as  angry  as  Altgeld 
and  the  University  were  pleased,  and  the  chairman  of 
the  appropriations  committee  telegraphed  Draper  for 
permission  to  substitute  for  the  library  an  appropria- 
tion for  the  President's  House,  which  had  been  omitted. 
It  was  of  course  refused  (the  House  was  built  from  the 
proceeds  of  some  outlying  land),  and  the  appropriation 
as  finally  made  reached  $422,000. 

The  financial  affairs  of  the  University  were  greatly 
complicated  two  years  later  by  the  defalcation  of 
Treasurer  Charles  W.  Spalding,  a  Chicagoan  of  ex- 
tensive financial  interests  whom  Altgeld  had  for  party 
reasons  seen  chosen  in  Bunu's  place.  That  the  Univer- 
sity had  been  exposed  to  robbery  is  shown  by  the  report 


SPALDING'S  DEFALCATION  161 

of  a  Board  committee  in  1895  upon  the  financial  system, 
which,  though  approving  it,  suggested  a  better  method 
of  checking  accounts,  and  stated  that  the  safety  of  the 
fund  had  depended  less  on  the  plan  than  on  the  in- 
tegrity of  the  responsible  officers.  The  amendments 
made  still  provided  imperfectly  for  the  care  of  the  ready 
money  and  endowment,  and  though  in  March,  1897,  the 
statement  of  the  Treasurer  was  pronounced  correct, 
three  weeks  later  grave  irregularities  in  his  affairs  were 
reported.  A  special  Board  meeting  was  hurriedly  called, 
and  a  new  Treasurer  elected — Elbridge  G.  Keith.  It 
appeared  at  this  meeting  that  the  Treasurer  had  been 
intrusted  with  bonds  and  cash  of  the  endowment  amount- 
ing to  about  $460,000,  and  with  current  funds  totaling 
$95,000  more;  and  that  of  this  $430,000  had  been  mis- 
applied. For  the  moment  there  was  some  consternation. 
AH  the  cash  balances  were  involved,  all  the  appropria- 
tions had  been  collected  to  the  end  of  the  year,  and  the 
statutes  so  completely  forbade  indebtedness  that  it  was 
impossible  to  obtain  credit  to  pay  salaries.  There  were 
other  claimants  to  what  property  Spalding  could  trans- 
fer to  the  Trustees,  and  to  enforce  the  liabilities  on  the 
bond  he  had  given  was  a  slow  process.  John  Farson 
offered  to  become  one  of  ten  men  to  advance  the  Uni- 
versity $50,000  each,  but  happily  there  was  a  better 
way  out. 

The  Legislature  was  then  in  session,  and  the  Uni- 
versity had  just  asked  it  for  its  greatest  appropriation, 
for  which  it  was  bringing  all  possible  pressure  to  bear. 
The  leaders  were  at  once  induced  to  establish  a  Senate 
committee  to  investigate  the  University's  losses,  of  which 
Henry  M.  Dunlap  was  made  chairman.  Its  report  was 
written  by  Senator  Dunlap  with  Dr.  Draper's  assist- 
ance, and  embodied  the  recommendations  of  the  latter. 


162        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

According  to  the  arrangement  adopted,  the  Legislature 
appropriated  enough  to  cover  the  yet  indeterminate 
amount  of  the  defalcation,  charged  the  State  with  lia- 
bility for  the  endowment  and  appropriated  the  amount 
of  the  interest  for  the  biennium,  and  directed  State 
officers  to  take  charge  of  legal  proceedings.  Gov.  John 
Tanner  took  an  interested  part  in  all  this.  The  Uni- 
versity, which  had  already  recovered  $106,000,  was  thus 
guaranteed  against  all  further  anxiety.  Spalding  went 
to  the  penitentiary,  and  four  years  later  the  Trustees 
protested  against  an  attempt  to  obtain  his  parole.  Nor 
did  the  Legislature 's  action  in  making  good  the  defalca- 
tion affect  its  liberality  in  other  directions.  With  other 
appropriations,  $220,000  was  granted  for  operating  ex- 
penses and  $80,000  for  a  heating  plant,  though  a  chem- 
istry building  was  denied. 

After  this  year  appropriations  showed  a  steady  in- 
crease. In  1899  the  Legislature  granted  nearly 
$600,000,  apart  from  the  interest  on  the  endowment. 
Of  this  one-fourth  was  for  an  agricultural  building, 
which  by  this  time  was  imperatively  needed.  Two  years 
later  the  supreme  need  was  that  caused  by  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  old  mechanical  building  by  fire,  for  it  had 
housed  wood  shops,  testing  and  hydraulics  laboratories, 
and  some  athletic  activities.  The  University  received 
one-third  more  than  before,  or  over  $900,000,  which  pro- 
vided not  only  for  the  gymnasium  and  shops  but  for  a 
chemistry  building,  and  allowed  over  $100,000  for  the 
agricultural  experiment  station.  Finally,  in  1903  the 
appropriations  passed  the  million  mark  by  nearly  three 
hundred  thousand,  of  which  the  most  noteworthy  item 
was  $150,000  for  the  use  of  the  college  of  engineering. 
Just  as  Draper  had  stated  that  the  same  sum  given 
for  an  agricultural  plant  four  years  before  was  a  land- 


ENROLLMENT  163 

mark  in  the  history  of  the  institution,  so  he  now  felt 
that  this  ought  to  lift  Dean  Ricker's  college  to  a  fore- 
most place  in  the  West.^ 

The  University's  increase  in  receipts  from  tuition 
alone  was  considerable,  for  the  growth  in  enrollment 
during  the  decade  was  of  a  sort  to  distinguish  her 
among  her  lustiest  neighbors.  The  attendance  had  but 
slightly  exceeded  800  in  Dr.  Draper's  first  year.  Three 
years  later  it  had  leaped  above  1,500;  in  six  years  it 
had  passed  2,500;  and  in  nine  years  it  had  exceeded 
3,500.  The  number  of  women  grew  even  faster,  pro- 
portionately, than  that  of  men,  for  it  had  risen  from 
less  than  seven  score  the  first  of  these  years  to  over  700 
the  last.  As  regarded  the  colleges,  this  enormous 
growth  was  by  no  means  evenly  distributed.  Agricul- 
ture shot  up  from  pigmy  proportions  to  those  of  a 
giant,  and  engineering,  expanding  more  steadily,  still 
grew  at  a  rate  which  must  have  seemed  unconscionable 
to  science  and  the  arts.  The  University  had  leaped  out 
of  the  small  college  class  forever,  but  in  doing  so  it 
had  become  ungainly  and  misshapen.  A  slower,  more 
restrained  growth  might  have  been  one  of  greater  even- 


1  The  exact  sum  in  1899  was  $593,566,  together  with  $50,000 
as  interest  on  the  endowment.  (The  State,  by  the  way,  was 
bound  by  the  terms  of  the  Morrill  Act  to  protect  the  University 
against  any  loss  of  endowment,  so  that  its  action  in  paying  the 
interest  was  not  a  piece  of  spontaneous  generosity. )  For  the  agri- 
cultural building  $150,000  was  given,  for  operating  expenses 
$270,000,  for  a  course  in  domestic  economy  $10,000,  for  libraries 
$20,000,  and  for  the  college  of  engineering  $20,000.  In  1901 
$350,000  was  given  for  operating  expenses,  $100,000  for  a  chem- 
ical laboratory,  $91,000  for  gymnasium,  wood  shop,  and  testing 
laboratory,  and  $108,000  for  the  agricultural  experiment  station. 
Finally,  of  the  $1,267,125  given  in  1903,  $500,000  was  for  operat- 
ing expenses,  $170,000  for  the  engineering  experiment  station, 
$150,000  for  engineering  equipment,  $100,000  for  agricultural 
equipment,  $80,000  for  a  woman's  building,  and  $40,000  for  the 
library. 


164        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

ness;  but  the  time  was  as  favorable  to  the  technical 
branches  as  to  mounting  registration/  for  engineers 
were  in  steady  demand. 

To  keep  pace  with  this  expansion  in  registration  by 
a  similar  expansion  in  facilities  was  difficult.  There 
was  scarcely  a  year  when  some  building  was  not  being 
erected;  but  there  was  never  a  semester  when  some 
adjustment  to  relieve  congestion  was  not  being  made, 
some  new  complaint  of  overcrowding  being  heard. 
When  Dr.  Draper  arrived  the  University  was  vastly 
proud  of  its  new  Engineering  Building,  and  counted  but 
five  other  structures  in  all.  When  he  left  there  were 
fifteen  buildings,  stretching  from  the  new  Gymnasium  on 
the  north  to  the  Agricultural  Building  on  the  south. 

The  first  building  to  be  opened  was  the  Library,  and  it 
was  the  addition  of  this  beautiful  structure  that  did 
most  to  add  dignity  and  grace  to  the  campus.  Only 
$150,000  was  appropriated  for  it,  but  unusual  care  was 
taken  in  its  design.  Requirements  were  carefully  ad- 
vertised, and  prizes  offered  for  the  best  plans.  Gov. 
Altgeld  was  eager  to  have  the  University  adopt  a  uni- 
form Tudor-Gothic  style  of  architecture,  and  through 
his  instrumentality  all  the  prize  designs  were  thrown 
aside  and  an  agreement  made  with  D.  H.  Burnham 
and  Co.,  of  Chicago,  for  the  designing  and  construction 
of  the  Library.  One  German  castellated  design  which 
this  firm  submitted  was  very  satisfactory  to  him,  but 
it  would  have  cost  $220,000,  and  was  plainly  out  of 
the  question;  when  a  second,  Grecian  in  design,  was 
offered,  he  strongly  objected  to  it,  and  it  also  was  re- 
jected.    The  firm  threw  up  its  contract  after  a  clash 

*  The  total  enrollment  in  1894-95  was  810,  of  whom  137  were 
women;  by  1897-98  it  was  1,582,  of  whom  245  were  women;  in 
1900-01  it  was  2,505,  of  whom  465  were  women,  and  in  1903-04 
there  were  3,594,  of  whom  718  were  women. 


NEW  BUILDINGS  165 

in  Board  meeting,  and  the  architectural  faculty  was 
then  asked  to  submit  its  own  plans,  Dean  Eicker,  Prof. 
White,  and  Grant  Miller  offering  the  Komanesque  de- 
sign which  has  proved  so  serviceable  and  beautiful. 
Minnesota  sandstone,  as  enduring  as  any  stone  except 
granite,  was  obtained,  the  foundations  were  laid  with 
special  care,  and  the  whole  was  roofed  with  clay  tile. 
Yet  the  building  was  completed  within  the  appropria- 
tion, and  its  success  was  one  of  the  reasons  which  in- 
duced Altgeld  to  give  up  his  plan  for  a  uniform  style.^ 
The  Observatory  was  simultaneously  built;  while 
these  were  the  years  in  which  Dr.  Draper  was  awaken- 
ing the  University  to  a  new  interest  in  its  grounds.  He 
repeatedly  declared  them  the  most  beautiful  of  the  sort 
in  America,  and  contrasted  their  finished  appearance 
under  the  care  of  Dr.  Burrill  with  the  unkempt  look  of 
most  campuses  of  the  time.  But  much  was  still  to  be 
done  for  their  improvement,  for  lawns  had  been  per- 
mitted to  grow  bare,  stumps  left  in  the  ground,  and 
townspeople  allowed  on  holidays  to  drive  their  vehicles 
over  the  flower-beds.  The  last  vestiges  of  the  arboretum 
and  the  campus  fences  were  removed,  cement  walks 
laid,  and  roadways  improved;  and  in  1895  Burrill 
Avenue  received  its  name — a  pleasant  bit  of  sentiment. 
A  year  later  the  constant  services  of  a  night  watchman 
and  day  policeman  were  first  employed.  A  little  later 
still  the  central  heating  plant,  whose  smokestack  Dr. 
Draper  thought  "an  attractive  feature"  rather  than 

*  Prof.  N.  A.  Wells  decorated  the  library,  and  spent  much 
time  and  effort  upon  the  fresco  -work  in  the  rotunda,  working 
six  months  in  Paris  (1898)  upon  the  studies  and  cartoons  from 
which  these  frescoes  were  executed.  Upon  this  part  of  his  task  he 
spent  eighteen  months,  for  which  he  received  about  $700  remu- 
neration. The  oil  paintings  are  quite  worthy  the  librarj%  and 
rank  with  the  best  of  similar  frescoes  in  other  American  build- 
ings of  the  sort. 


166        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

otherwise,  simplified  the  care  of  buildings,  and  arc 
lights  came  into  use  on  the  grounds  and  incandescent 
lights  in  the  halls.  The  President  was  frank  in  telling 
Twin  City  residents  that  they  should  undertake  more 
paving  in  the  University  district,  and  Wright  Street 
and  Mathews  Avenue  were  first  improved  in  his  time. 
Buildings  were  still  located  with  little  thought  of 
campus  design,  however,  and  with  little  debate.  Gov. 
Altgeld  insisted  on  the  present  Library  site,  against 
those  who  urged  that  of  the  Woman's  Building,  while 
Dr.  Draper  chose  the  location  of  the  President's  House.^ 
The  second  great  advance  in  construction  came  when 
in  the  summer  of  1899  the  design  of  J.  C.  Llewellyn, 
a  Chicago  architect  and  an  alumnus,  was  accepted  for 
the  Agricultural  Building.  It  was  for  a  hall  of  brick, 
consisting  of  four  separate  structures  around  an  open 
court  and  connected  by  corridors,  the  main  building 
three  and  the  others  two  stories  high.  Simple  and 
inexpensive,  it  was  yet  attractive;  it  was  completed  in 
1900,  and  two  months  later  the  college  would  have 
found  it  impossible  to  believe  that  it  had  existed  in  its 
cramped  quarters  in  the  older  buildings.  A  year  after- 
wards came  the  appropriation  for  the  Chemistry  Build- 
ing, for  the  old  Chemistry  Laboratory  had  been  struck 
by  lightning  five  years  before,  and  so  thoroughly  gutted 
that  it  could  only  temporarily  be  patched  up  for  Uni- 
versity uses.  The  Gymnasium,  which  cost  a  ludicrously 
small  amount,  filled  a  want  as  pressing  as  that  of  the 
Library  or  Agricultural  Building.  The  men  had  long 
contented  themselves  with  the  upper  floor  of  the  me- 
chanical hall,  where  room  for  baths,  lockers,  and  general 

*  The  only  considerable  acquisition  of  land  during  this  period 
took  place  in  1903,  when  four  lots  on  Mathews  Avenue  were 
bought  for  $12,500. 


INSTRUCTIONAL  EXPANSION  167 

exercise  was  very  restricted,  and  there  was  neither  track 
nor  space  for  heavy  apparatus.  The  burning  of  this 
had  sent  them  back  to  the  Armory.  The  women  were 
at  this  time  allotted  narrow  athletic  quarters  in  the 
Natural  History  Building,  with  ground  near  by  for  cer- 
tain open-air  sports. 

Finally,  the  large  appropriation  for  1903  carried  a 
sufficient  sum  for  the  Woman's  Building  ($80,000), 
though  it  was  but  half  of  what  it  should  have  been. 
The  architectural  department  had  already  drawn  plans 
for  a  more  expensive  structure,  and  they  had  to  be 
abandoned.  Six  architects  of  reputation  were  then 
selected  to  prepare  sketches  and  floor  plans;  and  these 
having  been  thrown  aside,  Dr.  Draper  enlisted  the  serv- 
ices of  McKim,  Mead,  and  "White  through  Representa- 
tive Joseph  G.  Cannon.  This  firm  began  its  work  just 
as  Draper  left.  The  hall,  in  a  pure  New  England 
colonial  style  and  with  a  broad  frontage  of  lawn,  was 
for  years  a  jewel,  and  great  was  the  regret  when  an 
addition  made  it  necessary  to  spoil  it  utterly — for  it  had 
not  been  planned  with  an  eye  to  enlargement. 

But  the  most  prominent  feature  of  Draper's  admin- 
istration was  not  the  growth  in  buildings,  faculty,  funds, 
or  in  students,  but  the  strikingly  regular  founding  of 
wholly  new  colleges  and  schools.  In  the  decade  no  less 
than  six  appeared — law,  medicine,  pharmacy,  dentistry, 
music,  and  library  science.  Nor  did  these  represent  a 
mere  opportunism ;  they  were  the  fruit  of  the  principles 
of  Draper  and  Altgeld  that  the  University  must  be  so 
well  rounded  as  to  respond  to  every  interest  in  the 
State.  In  two  or  three  instances  these  professional  in- 
terests themselves  urged  the  addition ;  in  all,  the  innova- 
tions bound  the  University  more  closely  to  the  State, 


168        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

and  the  State  more  closely  to  the  University.  To 
establish  these  schools  required  of  Draper  not  only  tire- 
less energy,  but  great  tact,  patience,  and  wisdom. 

The  lesset  of  the  new  departures,  the  divisions  of 
music  and  of  library  science,  were  the  first  to  be  defi- 
nitely organized.  In  the  year  that  Draper  began  his 
administration  steps  concerned  with  the  former  were 
taken,  and  the  next  autumn  a  department  of  music  was 
opened  under  Walter  Howe  Jones,  who  was  paid  $700 
a  year  and  half  the  fees  in  excess  of  that  sum.  The 
department  was  successful  at  first  chiefly  in  stimulating 
general  musical  interest  at  the  University.  Instruction 
in  vocal  music  was  offered  without  extra  charge,  and  a 
special  scholarship  given  one  senior  who  had  talent 
enough  to  train  the  military  band  to  unprecedented 
efficiency.  Three  years  after  its  founding  the  depart- 
ment had  been  reorganized  as  a  school,  and  though  still 
badly  housed,  had  a  faculty  of  nine  and  offered  diplomas 
in  music.  The  library  school,  the  fourth  in  the  coun- 
try and  the  first  opened  west  of  the  Alleghenies,  was 
founded  when  in  1897  the  nascent  State  Library  School 
was  taken  over  from  Armour  Institute,  and  placed 
under  the  charge  of  the  aggressive  Miss  Katharine  L. 
Sharp,  a  graduate  of  the  New  York  State  library  school. 
During  the  summer  she  succeeded  Percy  Bicknell  as 
librarian,  and  she  was  given  two  assistants.  Admission 
to  the  school  was  on  the  basis  of  two  years  of  college 
work,  and  the  two  years'  course  led  to  the  degree  of 
B.  L.  S.  The  library  when  Dr.  Draper  came  contained 
but  26,000  volumes,  some  utterly  worthless,  and  the 
President  labored  steadily  to  build  it  up,  asking  in  1897 
for  $20,000  a  year,  and  continuing  to  demand  large 
sums.  By  1904  there  were  some  65,000  volumes  and 
15,000  pamphlets.    The  special  equipment  of  the  library 


MEDICAL  SCHOOL  OPENED  169 

school  was  also  slowly  increased,  and  in  1902  there  was 
announced  the  requirement  of  three  years  of  college 
work  for  admission. 

The  college  of  medicine  and  schools  of  pharmacy  and 
dentistry  were  destined  to  constitute  a  single  group  in 
Chicago,  and  to  become  closely  linked  in  fortune.  Ne- 
gotiations for  the  establishment  of  the  medical  branch 
began  when  in  1894  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Sur- 
geons proposed  that  its  property  and  good  will  be 
sealed  over  to  the  University  for  not  exceeding  $160,000, 
the  price  to  be  fixed  by  a  joint  committee  of  appraisal. 
The  Trustees  expressed  their  approval,  appointed  repre- 
sentatives on  this  proposed  committee,  and  asked  the 
Legislature  for  $160,000,  or  as  much  of  that  as  neces- 
sary, for  the  purchase.  Thenceforth  neither  party  lost 
sight  of  the  idea  of  union.  Indeed,  the  college,  though 
very  inferior,  was  one  of  the  three  most  prominent  in 
Chicago,  and  well  known  throughout  the  West;  it  was 
situated  in  close  proximity  to  the  TVest  Side  Hospital, 
with  which  it  was  officially  connected,  and  to  the  Cook 
County  Hospital  of  1,000  beds;  and  its  tuition  fees 
were  equal  to  its  expenses.  Finally,  in  1897,  an  agree- 
ment was  consummated  by  which  the  college  was  af- 
filiated with  the  University  as  its  school  of  medicine, 
under  an  arrangement  to  cover  a  trial  period  of  four 
years.  The  attendance  at  the  college  at  this  time  ex- 
ceeded 400,  and  Dr.  Draper  congratulated  the  Uni- 
versity on  its  acquisition. 

So  advantageous  did  the  alliance  seem  to  both  that  in 
1900  a  more  permanent  agreement  was  negotiated — 
one,  indeed,  which  it  was  hoped  would  be  final.  The 
value  of  the  college  was  estimated  at  $217,000,  and  this 
the  University  agreed  to  pay  to  the  stockholders  from 
the  earnings  of  the  college  in  the  next  twenty-five  years, 


170        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

if  these  proved  sufficient,  the  University  taking  one- 
third  of  these  earnings  annually.  The  University  was 
also  to  pay  from  the  net  earnings  a  lease  of  $12,000 
per  year  during  this  period,  with  taxes  and  assessments. 
The  principle  upon  which  this  agreement  was  founded 
was  that  medical  education  could  not  only  be  conducted 
so  as  to  be  profitable,  but  so  hugely  profitable  that 
within  a  quarter-century  enough  might  be  accumulated 
to  pay  for  an  expensive  plant.  Fatuous  and  almost 
shameful  as  this  now  sounds,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  those  were  the  magnificently  disgraceful  days  when 
America  boasted  of  a  majority  of  the  medical  colleges 
of  the  world,  the  larger  part  of  them  run  for  gain  and 
by  far  the  larger  part  ill-taught  and  ill-equipped.  The 
last  three  years,  again,  had  shown  the  college  to  be  a 
moderately  paying  one.  The  University  felt  itself  pro- 
tected against  mismanagement  by  provisions  which 
seemed  to  vest  the  final  authority  over  the  college  in 
the  Trustees,  though  the  initiation  of  policies  and  ap- 
pointment of  teachers  rested  with  the  college  faculty. 

If  any  apprehended  that  this  agreement  was  unwise, 
they  were  soon  justified.  Soon  after  1900  attendance 
fell  off  in  most  medical  schools  of  the  country,  and 
though  it  did  not  at  once  do  so  at  the  college,  the  in- 
crease was  not  what  was  expected.  Again,  a  professional 
agitation  for  a  better  standard  of  medical  education 
almost  immediately  quickened  the  public  demand  for 
it,  and  it  had  to  be  provided  by  the  University.  No 
sooner  had  the  agreement  been  signed  than  it  was  seen 
that  the  college  needed  expansion,  and  the  West  Di- 
vision High  School  property  was  purchased  at  about 
$185,000 — an  addition  that  meant  increased  operating 
expenses.  A  year  later  occurred  a  fire  in  the  original 
building  costing  $100,000,  while  the  expense  of  remodel- 


PHARMACY  AND  DENTISTRY  171 

ing  the  high  school  was  greater  than  had  been  antici- 
pated. In  all,  by  1903  the  burden  the  University  had 
assumed  had  risen  to  $528,000;  while  against  this  the 
University's  income  from  the  college  had  been  found 
to  be  just  $4,000  the  first  and  $3,000  the  second  year! 
Clearly,  the  contract  could  not  be  fulfilled  at  this  rate, 
and  a  Board  committee  stated  its  earnest  belief  that 
for  a  variety  of  reasons  the  University  ought  soon  to 
purchase  the  college  outright.  Meanwhile,  the  Trustees 
instructed  the  college  faculty  to  reduce  the  annual  run- 
ning expenses  to  within  $38,400  of  the  annual  income, 
which  would  enable  the  University  to  pay  for  the  col- 
lege in  the  quarter-century. 

Doubtless  Gov.  Altgeld  felt  that  the  principles  of 
democracy  received  as  great  a  practical  illustration  in 
the  offering  of  instruction  in  pharmacy  and  dentistry  by 
the  State  as  in  University  expansion  in  other  directions. 
In  1895  the  Chicago  College  of  Pharmacy,  which  had 
been  established  before  the  University,  which  had  the 
longest  and  brightest  record  of  any  school  in  the  West, 
and  which  had  graduated  1,000  students,  made  an  un- 
conditional offer  of  its  property  to  the  University.  A 
slight  indebtedness  was  easily  cleared  away,  and  a  year 
later  the  college  became  the  School  of  Pharmacy  of  the 
University,  the  Trustees  being  assisted  in  its  manage- 
ment by  an  advisory  board  elected  by  the  Illinois  Phar- 
maceutical Association.  The  character  of  the  require- 
ments in  the  two  years'  course  was  immediately  much 
stiffened ;  and  the  degree  of  graduate  in  pharmacy 
given  only  to  those  with  four  years'  practical  experi- 
ence, including  the  two  in  the  School.  Again,  in  1898 
the  Illinois  School  of  Dentistry,  of  Chicago,  with  a 
standard  curriculum  and  equipment  and  a  hundred 
students,    applied  to   become   the   University's   dental 


172        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

department.  Nothing  was  done  at  the  time,  but  three 
years  later  the  College  of  Medicine  recommended  its 
absorption  as  a  branch  of  that  institution,  and  this  was 
effected.  As  the  department  needed  strengthening,  an 
attempt  was  made  to  unite  with  it  the  Chicago  College 
of  Dental  Surgery,  which  was  much  larger  and  richer, 
and  a  tentative  agreement  was  actually  drawn  provid- 
ing for  the  payment  of  the  stockholders  of  the  latter  by 
installments  drawn  from  the  annual  earnings.  But  these 
negotiations  failed,  principally  through  the  discovery 
that  the  Chicago  College  was  overburdened  with 
debt. 

The  foundation  of  the  law  school  was  an  important 
bit  of  expansion,  for  Altgeld  believed  that  it  would 
greatly  increase  the  serviceableness  of  the  institution, 
and  he,  the  State  Bar  Association,  and  Dr.  Burrill  had 
laid  plans  for  it  before  President  Draper's  coming.  It 
was  brought  about  in  1897,  when  $7,000  appropriated 
by  the  Trustees  for  books  and  salaries  became  available, 
and  announcement  was  made  of  a  course  in  literature 
and  arts  preparatory  to  law.  The  first  teachers  were 
G.  E.  Gardner  and  Charles  C.  Pickett,  with  three  lec- 
turers— Judges  0.  A.  Harker  and  B.  R.  Burroughs  of 
the  Appellate  Court,  and  Judge  Charles  G.  Neely  of  the 
Cook  County  Circuit  Court.  Judge  Harker  was  espe- 
cially active  in  advising  Draper  as  to  the  school's  ad- 
ministration, and  as  to  means  of  making  it  answer  the 
requirements  of  the  State  bar;  while  he  organized  and 
regularly  presided  over  the  Moot  Court.  A  year  after 
its  opening  the  State  Supreme  Court  made  a  long- 
anticipated  change  in  the  requirements  for  the  bar,  by 
which  no  candidate  was  eligible  who  had  not  a  high 
school  education  and  who  had  not  completed  three  years 
of  legal  study.     This  prompted  a  rearrangement  and 


AGRICULTURE  REORGANIZED  173 

strengthening  of  the  course,  and  they  in  turn  made  pos- 
sible the  school's  conversion  into  a  college.  It  opened 
under  the  new  title  (1899)  with  James  Brown  Scott  as 
dean  and  professor,  and  with  a  total  faculty  of  five  reg- 
ular teachers  and  five  lecturers,  and  a  year  later  no  less 
than  twenty-six  were  graduated  from  it.  At  the  end  of 
its  third  year  Dean  Scott  resigned  and  Judge  Harker 
was  appointed  in  his  place. 

If  we  turn  from  these  innovations  to  the  regular  col- 
leges, we  find  the  development  far  from  symmetrical. 
The  decade  closed  with  the  colleges  of  engineering  and 
agriculture  well  to  the  front,  and  the  advance  of  the 
latter  was  literally  amazing.  From  the  weakest  division 
of  the  University  the  agricultural  departments  came  to 
constitute  in  many  ways  the  strongest.  So  hopeless  had 
the  college  seemed  during  even  Burrill's  interregnum 
that  one  of  the  conditions  on  which  Draper  accepted 
the  presidency  was  that  he  should  not  be  held  responsi- 
ble for  any  want  of  progress  by  it.  During  his  first 
year  there  were  but  nine  or  ten  registrants  in  it,  and 
not  a  single  graduate.  When  he  left,  it  was  the  college 
to  which  the  University  pointed  most  proudly  in  asking 
funds. 

There  were  certain  circumstances  during  Draper's 
first  year  that  pointed  to  a  change.  The  chief  was  the 
resignation  that  autumn  of  Morrow,  of  his  own  accord, 
after  long  service.  The  Trustees  did  not  appreciate 
the  difficulties  against  which  Morrow  had  struggled; 
and  yet  they  did  well  to  accept  his  resignation,  for  a 
man  of  greater  ability  in  organizing  the  college  depart- 
ment, advertising  it  among  the  farmers'  sons,  and  ob- 
taining for  it  the  support  of  the  agricultural  societies 
was  needed  and  was  undoubtedly  procurable.  Gov. 
Tanner  stated  that  someone  was  required  ''who  can 


174        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

chase  members  of  the  Legislature  over  a  stake  and  rider 
fence,"  by  which  he  meant  that  agricultural  influences 
must  be  brought  to  bear  at  Springfield.  The  new  head, 
Draper,  after  hesitating  among  several  candidates, 
found  in  Eugene  Davenport,  who  won  his  favor  by  a 
forcible  letter  outlining  the  needs  of  the  college,  and 
whom  Burrill  recommended.  He  had  taken  two  degrees 
at  the  Michigan  Agricultural  College ;  while  still  a  prac- 
tical farmer  he  had  become  director  of  the  agricultural 
experiment  station  there ;  and  he  had  gone  to  Brazil  to 
found  a  State  agricultural  college,  only  to  be  thwarted 
by  the  government's  instability.  The  University  had 
reason  for  congratulation  that  a  man  so  experienced  and 
shrewd  had  accepted  the  place.  He  saw  that  the  State 
was  agriculturally  much  richer  than  Michigan,  the 
people  progressive,  and  the  college  part  and  parcel  of  a 
rapidly  growing  University.  The  rural  press  had  re- 
cently exchanged  its  hostility  for  an  encouraging  atti- 
tude. Though  there  had  been  but  one  professorship  of 
agriculture,  and  the  experiment  station  had  almost 
monopolized  activities  at  Urbana,  he  was  hopeful  that 
genuine  University  instruction  could  be  developed  be- 
side it  and  the  winter  short  course. 

Even  before  special  appropriations  could  be  obtained, 
Davenport  undertook  to  extend  the  college  organization 
and  systematize  its  work.  He  had  insisted  on  being 
called  professor  of  animal  husbandry,  not  of  agriculture, 
and  he  at  once  organized  the  instruction  under  four  heads 
— agronomy,  animal  husbandry,  dairy  husbandry,  and 
horticulture.  He  urged  the  Trustees  to  have  a  suitable 
agricultural  building  provided,  with  full  laboratories. 
The  experiment  station's  investigations  into  soils  and 
crops  were  multiplied,  each  with  a  character  closely  re- 
lated to  State  interests.    Draper  had  complained  that 


EXPERIMENT  STATION  GROWS  175 

under  Morrow  there  was  ' '  one  poor  barn  where  the  farm 
horses  and  a  poor  lot  of  mongrel  cattle  kept  company 
with  unconscionable  pigs  that  made  the  place  a  nui- 
sance," and  that  there  were  not  enough  dairy  products 
even  for  sale  to  the  faculty.  Much  more  attention  was 
now  paid  to  the  breeding  of  fine  animals,  and  in  particu- 
lar a  herd  of  thoroughbred  cattle  was  developed.  New 
barns  were  erected,  better  machinery  was  bought,  and  a 
fuller  use  was  made  of  the  farm  as  an  object-lesson  to 
the  agricultural  students. 

Finally,  several  administrative  changes  were  made,  the 
most  important  of  which  was  the  creation  of  the  office 
of  director  of  the  experiment  station,  to  be  filled  by  the 
dean  ex-officio.  By  this  step  much  executive  authority 
that  had  theretofore  reposed  in  the  board  of  direction 
was  transferred  to  the  college,  while  the  station  was 
brought  more  closely  under  the  power  of  the  Trustees, 
who  appointed  its  staff.  It  also  made  possible  a  closer 
connection  between  the  experimental  work  and  the  agri- 
cultural instruction.  The  appointment  of  some  notable 
additions  to  the  faculty  came  also  at  this  time.  Cyril 
G.  Hopkins,  then  in  a  small  Dakota  institution,  but  a 
man  whose  scientific  writings  had  attracted  attention, 
was  appointed  chemist  to  the  experiment  station  just 
before  Davenport  came,  and  J.  C.  Blair  came  as  assistant 
horticulturist  soon  after. 

But  the  best  achievement  of  the  reorganization  was,  by 
a  well-calculated  and  sustained  campaign,  the  wresting 
of  increased  appropriations  from  the  Legislature  and 
the  enlistment  of  the  support  of  the  farmers.  By  per- 
sonal appeals,  and  to  a  limited  extent  by  speeches  and 
correspondence,  individuals  and  agricultural  organiza- 
tions were  fairly  presented  with  the  question  of 
whether  they  were  sufficiently  desirous  of  a  strong  agri- 


176        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

cultural  organization  to  fight  for  it.  Three  organiza- 
tions had  had  representatives  on  the  board  of  direction 
of  the  experiment  station,  now  simply  an  advisory 
board — the  State  Board  of  Agriculture,  the  State  Horti- 
cultural Society,  and  the  State  Dairymen's  Association; 
and  some  of  their  members  were  at  once  ready  to  assist. 
The  State  Farmers'  Institute  was  organized  with  the 
support  of  the  University  as  one  of  its  prime  objects, 
and  it  soon  commanded  strong  legislative  support.  Ap- 
peals were  later  made  to  other  bodies  which  came  into 
prominence  after  Davenport  became  dean,  and  some  of 
which  were  founded  for  the  express  purpose  of  co- 
operating with  college  or  station — the  Live  Stock 
Breeders'  Association,  the  Corn  Growers'  Association, 
the  Grain  Dealers'  Association,  the  Beet  Sugar  Growers' 
Association,  and  so  on.  Alumni  prominent  in  agricul- 
ture, and  many  well-known  farmers  never  before  con- 
nected with  the  University  lent  their  support.^  An 
increasing  pressure  began  to  be  felt  at  Springfield  be- 
hind the  appropriations  asked  for  the  college.  Four 
years  after  Davenport's  coming  this  pressure  swept 
away  all  opposition  to  the  demand  for  an  agricultural 
building,  though  at  the  time  the  college  had  the  merest 
handful  of  students ;  two  years  after  this  it  was  sufficient 
to  carry  a  bill  enlarging  the  scope  of  the  experiment 
station  and  granting  it  $108,000;  and  two  years  later 
still  it  obtained  $122,000  for  the  college  and  $170,000 
for  the  station.  And  quite  as  important  as  these  gains 
at  Springfield  was  the  fact  that  in  thus  fighting  for  the 

*  Among  the  names  which  should  be  mentioned,  represent- 
ing all  sections,  are  those  of  C.  F.  Mills,  Amos  Moore,  J.  H. 
Cooledge,  S.  Noble  King,  D.  M.  Fimk,  L.  H.  Kerrick,  N.  B. 
Morrison,  H.  M.  Dimlap,  H.  A.  Aldrich,  A.  P.  Grout,  Edwin 
ShurtlefF,  E.  C.  Curtis,  Senator  Laurence  Y.  Sherman,  Frank  I. 
Mann,  Frederick  L.  Hatch,  and  Ralph  Allen. 


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AGRICULTURE  REORGANIZED  177 

college,  which  was  steadily  demonstrating  its  usefulness 
during  this  period,  the  rural  population  was  having  its 
interest  in  the  whole  institution  roused  as  never  before. 
When  in  1899  the  $150,000  was  given  for  an  agricul- 
tural building  and  equipment  Dr.  Draper  hailed  it  with 
enthusiasm.  ''In  all  the  provision  which  has  been 
made  in  many  States  for  agricultural  education,  the 
generosity  of  this  munificent  sum  given  at  one  time  is 
unprecedented. ' '  He  thought  that  the  University  should 
erect  the  most  comprehensive  group  of  buildings  for  the 
purpose  in  America.  Unfortunately,  he  at  once  set 
about  to  devise  new  policies  and  methods  of  operation 
for  the  college  exclusively  in  pursuance  of  his  own 
ideas.  The  President  had  no  knowledge  of  Western 
agriculture,  and  was  acquainted  only  with  the  Eastern 
conception  of  farming  as  a  business  for  making  a  living, 
not  for  making  money.  He  had  regarded  many  of  the 
ambitions  of  the  dean  and  his  fellows  as  decidedly 
visionary,  and  now  he  had  a  very  natural  apprehension 
that  without  caution  the  faculty  might  take  its  new 
facilities  and  make  a  stupendous  failure.  He  did  not 
believe  that  such  a  college  as  has  since  been  developed 
was  possible.  There  were  no  precedents  to  encourage 
such  a  belief ;  the  registration  was  still  merely  nominal, 
and  no  neighboring  university  had  blazed  the  way.  In- 
tent that  no  false  move  should  be  made,  he  submitted 
to  the  Trustees  in  April  a  new  plan  on  which  he  had 
consulted  but  few,  and  which  provided  for  many  back- 
ward steps.  Its  main  feature  was  for  the  provision  of 
an  agricultural  high  school.  This,  admitting  grammar 
school  students,  should  teach  the  ordinary  high  school 
subjects,  and  in  addition  courses  in  elementary  agri- 
culture. The  faculty  should  be  teachers  both  of  agri- 
culture and  of  the  secondary  subjects  of  general  cultural 


178        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

value.  At  the  same  time,  the  college  of  agriculture  as 
it  already  existed  should  be  expanded  and  strengthened, 
but  scientific  courses  bearing  on  farming  should  be  kept 
in  the  college  of  science. 

This  plan  was  at  once  repudiated  by  the  agricultural 
faculty  and  by  Dr.  Burrill,  who  was  a  constant  advisor 
of  the  college.  A  committee  of  the  Trustees  also  dis- 
approved it,  and  as  President  Draper  soon  after  left  for 
a  visit  to  Europe  nothing  more  was  heard,  of  it.  Mean- 
while, Burrill,  Davenport,  three  members  of  his 
faculty,  and  several  Trustees  were  made  a  committee  to 
visit  the  agricultural  departments  of  other  States  and  to 
report  on  their  plant  and  work. 

This  body  duly  visited  Wisconsin,  Cornell,  the  Mich- 
igan Agricultural  College,  and  the  University  of  Ohio. 
The  results  are  hardly  visible  in  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee in  June,  which  contained  little ;  but  they  are  un- 
doubtedly embodied  in  the  very  important  report  which 
Dean  Davenport  offered  the  next  month  upon  the  re- 
vision of  the  agricultural  courses.  Upon  this  document 
the  whole  faculty  had  labored  since  the  appropriation 
was  first  made,  and  had  received  invaluable  advice  from 
Dr.  Burrill.  Dr.  Burrill  presented  it  in  Draper's  ab- 
sence, and  he  realized  that  the  acceptance  of  its  enlarge- 
ment of  the  course  of  study  would  revolutionize  the 
college.  It  provided  that  in  place  of  less  than  a  score  of 
courses  in  all,  eleven  each  should  be  offered  in  agronomy, 
animal  husbandry,  and  dairy  husbandry,  six  in  veteri- 
nary science,  and  eighteen  in  horticulture.  "It  will  be 
noticed,"  said  Dr.  Burrill,  "that  the  elective  offerings 
are  very  large,  much  exceeding  in  number  those  hereto- 
fore published  by  the  University,  and  largely  exceeding, 
it  is  believed,  those  offered  by  any  other  college  or 
university  in  America.    Of  course  this  list  could  not  be 


GROWTH  IN  AGRICULTURE  179 

offered  except  with  the  understanding  that  the  number 
of  instructors  employed  should  be  as  you  have  already 
arranged.  With  these  instructors  and  with  this  liberal 
amount  of  required  and  elective  instruction,  the  college 
must  take  very  high  rank."  The  report  was  accepted, 
and  the  college  thus  placed  not  merely  on  its  feet,  but 
in  many  waja  at  the  head  of  all  such  colleges.  The 
Trustees  authorized  the  organization  of  the  five  depart- 
ments as  the  dean  had  recommended,  and  took  steps  to 
advertise  the  new  advantages. 

The  scope  of  the  expansion  that  began  with  the  new 
century  may  easily  be  gathered  from  the  catalogues. 
Thus  in  1900-01  there  were  twelve  instructors  in  agri- 
culture, and  the  total  of  courses  was  forty-three.  Two 
years  later  there  were  twenty  instructors,  and  a  total  of 
nearly  seventy-five  courses  was  given.  Two  years  later 
still  there  were  announced  twenty-four  instructors,  and 
the  total  of  courses  was  about  one  hundred.  The  new 
building  had  played,  of  course,  an  indispensable  part 
in  this  growth,  and  had  proved  quite  adequate.  The 
central  hall  contained  offices  and  classrooms  for  all  five 
departments,  and  offices  for  the  State  Entomologist  and 
Experiment  Station,  while  one  floor  of  an  entire  wing 
was  given  to  household  science;  one  of  the  small  build- 
ings was  given  to  dairy  manufactures,  one  to  farm 
machinery,  and  one  to  veterinary  science  and  stock 
judging.  The  college  and  its  farms  had  become  for 
experimental  purposes  the  agricultural  center  of  the 
State  and  one  of  the  agricultural  centers  of  the 
country.  The  extension  work  of  the  faculty  had  made 
it  known  in  every  county,  a  growing  fraction  of  the 
University  matriculants  entered  it,  and  its  investigations 
were  gaining  it  scientific  repute. 

The  college  of  engineering  had  the  great  advantage 


180        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

of  already  possessing  its  building  when  Draper  came, 
of  having  a  well-organized  faculty,  and  of  having  a 
reputation  that  attracted  a  large  student  body.  It  was 
in  the  flush  of  its  first  prosperity  when  Draper  was 
inaugurated  the  same  week  that  Engineering  Hall  was 
dedicated.  As  against  the  nine  men  in  agriculture  that 
year,  there  were  well  over  three  hundred  in  engi- 
neering work,  and  whereas  the  Legislature  ignored 
agriculture  that  spring  it  gave  a  small  sum  for  en- 
gineering shop  practice.  The  plant  increased  steadily 
through  the  erection  of  one  after  another  of  the  small 
laboratories  and  shops  along  Burrill  Avenue — first  the 
metal  shops,  then  the  electrical  laboratory,  then  the  new 
wood  shops,  and  finally  the  applied  mechanics  labora- 
tory. But  its  development  received  its  greatest  impetus 
when  the  last  appropriation  under  Draper  gave  it 
$150,000.  The  chief  credit  for  obtaining  this  sum  at- 
taches to  Prof.  Breckinridge,  who  had  conceived  the 
idea  of  an  engineering  experiment  station,  first  as  a 
Federally-supported  institution,  then,  as  hope  for  this 
faded,  as  one  State-supported.  The  Trustees  and  Presi- 
dent having  decided  against  including  a  special  new  ap- 
propriation for  the  college  of  engineering  in  the  budget, 
Breckinridge  obtained  permission  to  introduce  an  in- 
dependent bill  covering  it,  and  from  his  office  carried 
on  an  extensive  campaign  of  publicity,  urging  all  the 
manufacturers  of  the  State  to  support  the  measure,  and 
presenting  to  the  Legislature  as  telling  arguments  as 
possible.  He  himself  went  to  Springfield  and  lobbied 
effectively  for  the  grant. 

The  President  emphasized  the  propriety  of  spending 
this  so  that  the  college  as  a  whole  would  feel  a  powerful 
impulse  rather  than  that  each  department  would  feel 
well  treated.     Some  distinctive  step  should  be  taken, 


LIBERAL  ARTS  WORK  181 

some  decisive  movement  originated  that  would  lead  to 
large  results.  He  especially  proposed  the  study  of  such 
problems  in  advanced  research  as  promised  most  for  the 
constructive  energy  of  the  world.  After  consultation 
with  Dean  Ricker,  he  recommended  (1)  that  $30,000 
be  allotted  for  departmental  equipment  for  under- 
graduate instruction,  (2)  that  the  equipment  of  the 
laboratories  be  increased,  (3)  that  the  metal  shops  be 
extended,  and  (4)  most  important,  that  the  nucleus  of 
an  engineering  research  laboratory  be  provided.  The 
effect  of  these  measures  was  Just  becoming  visible  as 
Draper  left.  On  December  8,  1903,  had  been  established 
the  first  experiment  station  connected  with  an  engineer- 
ing college  in  the  country,  under  the  direction  of  the 
faculty;  and  it  in  particular  was  beginning  an  impor- 
tant work.  The  whole  appropriation  gave  the  capstone 
to  much  steady  gi'owth.  There  was  not  a  single  depart- 
ment in  which  at  least  a  half  dozen  new  branches  were 
not  added  during  the  decade.  Electrical  engineering 
was  practically  made  over.  The  course  in  railway  en- 
gineering was  established  in  1898  in  response  to  the 
demands  of  several  Middle  Western  lines,  three  of 
which  promised  their  cooperation — the  Illinois  Central 
furnishing  a  railway  test  car,  and  the  Big  Four  a 
dynamometer  car.  Postgraduates  were  set  at  special 
research,  and  in  several  of  the  departments  the  granting 
of  masters'  degrees  became  common. 

Though  Draper  came  to  the  presidency  with  a  keen 
sense  of  the  neglect  under  which  the  two  liberal  arts 
colleges  were  lying,  their  development  was  for  various 
reasons  not  so  striking  as  that  of  the  technical  colleges, 
and  in  many  ways  they  were  still  weak  when  he  left. 
This  is  not  to  say  that  they  did  not  grow  steadily.  The 
college  of  science  profited  much  by  its  new  Natural 


182        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

History  Building,  and  by  the  Chemistry  Laboratory; 
literature  and  arts  by  the  evacuation  of  University  Hall 
by  other  colleges,  and  the  erection  of  the  Library.  In 
both  a  number  of  new  departments  were  born,  and 
practically  all  the  old  ones  greatly  strengthened.  Dean 
Kinley  presided  over  the  college  of  literature  and  arts 
after  1894,  and  Dean  Forbes  continued  to  head  that  of 
science.  The  name  of  the  former  was  an  innovation, 
for  it  had  been  known  under  Burrill  simply  as  the  col- 
lege of  literature.  By  1895  the  two  schools  which  had 
formerly  constituted  it,  that  of  English  and  modern 
languages  leading  to  the  degree  B.  L.,  and  that  of 
ancient  languages  and  literature  leading  to  the  degree 
B.  A.,  had  disappeared,  and  the  single  degree  of  B.  A. 
was  given  instead.  About  sixty  per  cent,  of  the  student's 
course  was  by  this  time  elective.  Within  this  college 
Dean  Kinley  labored  with  manful  energy,  and  to  him 
is  to  be  given  a  large  part  of  the  credit,  not  only  for 
the  steady  development  of  specific  branches  of  liberal 
instruction,  but  for  the  general  enthusiasm  with  which 
in  the  University  the  cause  of  literary,  classical,  and 
commercial  education  was  henceforth  furthered.  For 
the  preceding  thirty  years  the  main  efforts  of  the  faculty 
had  been  in  advocacy  of  the  new  movement  for  scien- 
tific, engineering,  and  agricultural  education ;  now  there 
was  to  be  a  fresh  zeal  and  pride  in  its  labors  to  develop 
the  other  departments.  Dean  Forbes  labored  as  hard 
within  the  college  of  science,  which  had  now  dropped 
the  adjective  "natural"  from  before  its  name;  and 
both  men,  as  has  been  said,  were  conscientiously 
assisted  by  Draper. 

The  first  of  the  two  chief  innovations  in  science,  the 
establishment  of  courses  preparatory  to  medicine, 
which  comprised  four  years  of  work  in  advised  outline, 


CHEMISTRY  UNDER  PALMER     183 

came  in  1895.  The  second  lay  in  a  domestic  science 
department  which  the  college  shared  with  that  of  agri- 
culture, but  which  found  its  origin  in  a  work  the  chem- 
istry department  had  begun  in  the  analysis  of  foods 
and  the  study  of  nutrition  and  household  sanitation. 
Dr.  Draper  in  1899,  after  a  cautionary  remark  that 
"mere  expertness  in  performing  or  supervising  house- 
hold duties  does  not  seem  to  be  up  to  the  grade  of  col- 
lege work,"  had  suggested  that  the  department  be 
instituted  in  the  new  Agricultural  Building.  A  com- 
petent director  was  found  in  Miss  Isabel  Bevier,  who 
was  made  professor  of  household  science,  "with  one  in- 
structor, and  who  began  work  the  fall  of  1900.  Plans 
were  laid  at  the  same  time  for  the  supervision  of  a 
University  lunchroom  by  the  department.  Five  years 
later,  when  it  was  ready  to  be  moved  to  the  Woman's 
Building,  the  two  instructors  offered  nine  courses.  Stu- 
dents in  household  science  might  register  in  either  col- 
lege, but  to  those  in  agriculture  special  county  and  Con- 
gressional scholarships  were  open  upon  the  same  terms 
as  to  men. 

The  development  of  the  courses  in  chemistry  during 
this  period  under  Dr.  Arthur  W.  Palmer,  an  alumnus 
who  returned  from  foreign  study  as  assistant  professor 
in  1889  and  became  a  professor  a  year  later,  was  such 
as  to  make  highly  fitting  the  erection  to  him  of  a  com- 
memorative tablet  following  his  death  in  1904.  When 
he  began  his  professorial  service  he  gave  all  the  lectures 
of  the  four  years'  course  (then  including  mineralogy) 
and  heard  all  the  students'  recitations  himself;  the 
standing  of  the  department  became  such  that  the  in- 
crease in  registration  constantly  surpassed  that  in  the 
teaching  force,  and  despite  all  the  additions  to  the 
faculty  the  pressure  of  instructional  work  never  abated. 


184        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

He  was  responsible  for  the  founding  in  1897  of  the 
Chemical  Water  Survey,  served  as  its  director,  lec- 
tured assiduously,  carried  out  research  work,  bore  the 
chief  administrative  burden  in  the  department,  and 
planned  the  present  Chemistry  Building  and  supervised 
its  erection.  His  expert  knowledge  made  him  the  chief 
chemical  witness  in  a  protracted  suit  between  St.  Louis 
and  Chicago  following  the  opening  of  the  Chicago 
Drainage  Canal.  The  faithful  carrying  of  this  heavy 
burden  induced  a  physical  weakness  which  cut  short  his 
career  at  the  very  moment  when  new  facilities  had 
given  him  great  new  advantages.  But  with  his  depart- 
ment organized,  housed,  and  equipped,  and  the  teach- 
ing force  greatly  strengthened,  it  was  left  ready  to 
undertake  the  broad  and  successful  work  in  instruction 
and  research  which  it  has  since  carried  on. 

In  the  college  of  literature  and  arts  the  most  notable 
development  lay  in  the  improvement  and  arrangement 
of  the  work  in  economics  so  that  it  furnished  a  virtual 
department  of  commerce;  and  in  the  establishment  of 
a  department  of  education.  For  some  years  after  Dr. 
Kinley  took  charge  of  a  separate  department  in  the  study 
which  Gregory  had  delighted  to  teach,  he  found  him- 
self much  overburdened.  He  had  first  offered  eight 
courses,  and  then  eleven,  and  even  after  becoming  dean 
he  continued  single-handed  to  teach  most  of  them.  In 
the  last  three  years  of  the  century  came  Dr.  N.  A. 
Weston  and  Dr.  M.  B.  Hammond,  and  this  permitted  a 
considerable  expansion.  Finally  Dean  Kinley  prevailed 
upon  the  Trustees  to  ask  the  Legislature  for  a  small 
appropriation  to  open  a  school  of  commerce,  under  the 
title  of  Courses  of  Training  for  Business,  and  this 
was  announced  in  1902,  with  special  library  and  two 
new  instructors.     It  was  stated  that  studies  could  be 


EXPANSION  IN  LIBERAL  ARTS  185 

combined  to  afford  training  for  general  business,  for 
transportation,  banking,  journalism,  and  for  insurance, 
but  for  some  years  students  found  little  to  tempt  them 
except  the  ''general  business."  As  for  education,  it 
was  an  outgrowth  of  the  old  ''philosophical  group," 
and  developed  from  a  few  courses  in  abstract  pedagogy 
to  some  ten  of  practical  sort,  with  special  work  for 
teachers  included  also  in  other  departments.  In  1899 
a  Board  committee  even  recommended  the  establish- 
ment of  a  teachers'  college,  but  this  was  impracticable. 
The  general  broadening  of  the  elective  curriculum  in 
both  colleges  was,  moreover,  great.  In  1894  their  work 
could  have  been  duplicated  at  any  sturdy  small  college ; 
in  1904  it  was  of  genuine  university  character.  When 
the  decade  opened,  for  example,  there  were  six  courses 
in  botany,  and  when  it  closed,  seventeen.  To  chemistry 
much  attention  had  always  been  paid,  and  in  1894  there 
were  twenty-one  courses  offered,  but  ten  years  later 
there  were  over  fifty,  with  nine  more  for  graduates.  In 
English,  which  was  steadily  strengthened  under  Dr.  D. 
K.  Dodge,  the  student  of  Burrill's  last  year  had  to 
content  himself,  besides  the  general  survey,  with  a  course 
on  Shakespeare,  one  in  nineteenth  century  poetry,  and 
one  in  eighteenth  century  prose.  In  1904,  though  the 
offering  was  scanty  still,  there  were  over  twenty  courses 
besides  the  general  survey,  Chaucer  and  Browning  now 
being  honored  with  special  study,  and  there  being  even 
a  course  in  the  history  of  English  criticism.  The  Ger- 
man department  of  the  interregnum  had  comprised,  be- 
sides the  first  two  years '  work,  a  year 's  course  in  Gothic 
and  Old  High  and  Middle  High  German.  In  1904  there 
were  well  over  twenty  courses,  including  one  each  in 
recent  prose  fiction  and  recent  drama,  and  a  seminar 
in  modern  German  literature.    History  comprised  four 


186        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

courses  at  the  beginning  of  the  decade  and  eighteen  at 
the  end,  permitting  now  of  study  in  American  and 
British  history.  In  rhetoric  were  taught  the  first  courses 
in  journalism,  advanced  composition,  and  debate;  and 
in  mathematics  eighteen  courses  grew  to  twenty-nine. 
Thus  was  improved  a  very  faulty  curriculum. 

This  constant  strengthening  of  the  liberal  branches 
was  reflected  in  the  progress  of  the  graduate  school. 
The  year  of  Dr.  Draper's  arrival  the  school  was  placed 
in  charge  of  the  Council  of  Administration  and  the 
office  of  dean  established,  to  be  filled  by  the  dean  of 
the  general  faculty — at  that  time  Prof.  Burrill.  The 
attendance  steadily  mounted,  and  had  reached  75  by 
the  new  century  and  120  when  Draper  left.  The  neces- 
sity for  rapid  development  in  undergraduate  work,  the 
meagerness  of  equipment,  the  pressure  on  the  time  of 
the  faculty,  were  all  hard  obstacles.  Yet  one  by  one 
the  departments  established  graduate  courses.  In  1904 
Draper  reported  that  they  were  offered  in  twenty-seven 
general  branches,  and  while  the  number  in  any  one  de- 
partment was  small,  to  each  they  gave  a  more  am- 
bitious aim  and  higher  standard.  In  economies,  for 
example,  there  were  two  graduate  courses  and  two 
Seminars,  and  in  German,  zoology,  animal  husbandry, 
geology,  and  English  three  courses  each.  The  number 
of  fellowships  granted  unfortunately  remained  almost 
stationary,  but  a  respectable  number  of  higher  degrees 
was  given — fifteen  masters'  degrees  in  1901,  ten  in 
1902,  and  in  1903  seventeen,  with  two  doctorates. 

The  summer  school  was  with  difficulty  kept  alive  dur- 
ing the  early  part  of  Draper's  administration,  and  it 
had  none  too  secure  a  place  at  its  close.^     The  second 

*  Dean  Kiiiley,  Prof.  Arnold  Tompkins,  and  Dean  Clark  suc- 
cessively headed  the  summer  school. 


THE  SUMMER  SCHOOL  187 

session  (1895)  offered  a  number  of  studies  of  special 
appeal  to  teachers,  together  with  ten  days'  field  work 
in  zoology,  botany,  and  entomology  at  the  biological 
station  at  Havana  on  the  Illinois  River.  The  teaching 
of  languages  was  lamentably  weak,  and  private  classes 
were  organized  in  Latin  and  Greek,  and  French  and 
German.  Mainly  because  of  a  smallpox  scare,  only 
twenty-six  students  were  enrolled,  and  of  these  the  sta- 
tion on  the  river  had  a  very  large  proportion.  While 
the  Trustees  therefore  authorized  Prof.  Forbes  to 
broaden  his  work  according  to  a  plan  he  had  submitted 
for  united  effort  by  himself.  Prof.  Tompkins,  and  Vice 
President  Burrill  for  developing  high-grade  work  in 
field  science,  they  seriously  debated  the  dropping  of 
the  regular  Urbana  session.  However,  a  little  corre- 
spondence showed  a  majority  of  the  county  school  super- 
intendents of  the  State  in  favor  of  it,  and  that  eighty 
out  of  a  hundred  city  school  superintendents  believed 
that  persons  from  their  locality  might  be  induced  to 
attend,  so  that  it  was  continued.  It  was  decided 
to  make  the  course  one  for  eight  weeks,  and  to  open  it  to 
any  teacher  holding  a  first-grade  county  certificate. 
The  attendance  after  this  disastrous  year  rose  steadily. 
In  1899,  148  students  were  enrolled;  in  1901,  204;  in 
1903,  229 ;  and  in  1904,  238.  This  was  largely  the  result 
of  better  advertisement,  of  the  broadening  of  the  cur- 
riculum, and  of  the  appropriation  of  more  money — 
$5,000  in  1903  and  $7,000  in  1904— with  the  consequent 
elevation  of  salaries,  professors  receiving  $300,  and  the 
retention  of  good  men  for  the  session. 

The  administrative  changes  required  during  this 
period  of  rapid  expansion  were  many,  and  Draper's 
talent  was  eminently  administrative.    He  was  constantly 


188        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

reshaping  the  polity  of  the  University,  his  innovations 
in  many  instances  being  suggested  by  other  institutions, 
but  in  some  showing  originality  and  penetration. 
Within  two  years  he  had  given  clearer  definition  to  his 
own  powers,  upon  which  he  was  insistent ;  for  the  gen- 
eral supervision  of  the  instructional  work,  he  had  cre- 
ated the  deanship  of  the  general  faculty;  and  he  had 
organized  the  Council  of  Administration.  This  Council, 
he  explained,  "does  not  legislate,  it  acts  with  the  Presi- 
dent in  administering.  The  arrangement  is  flexible 
and  has  proved  an  admirable  one.  It  secures  the  dis- 
patch of  all  ordinary  executive  business  without  delay, 
while  it  secures  the  action  ...  of  the  most  experienced 
men  connected  with  the  University  .  .  .  upon  all  mat- 
ters of  any  unusual  consequence."  To  the  general 
faculty,  consisting  of  all  of  professorial  rank,  was  given 
charge  of  the  instructional  policy.  Later  the  deanship 
of  this  body  was  dropped,  and  the  growth  of  the  Uni- 
versity led  in  1901  to  the  creation  of  the  Senate,  com- 
posed of  President,  deans,  and  departmental  heads, 
which  took  over  the  duties  of  the  general  faculty.  The 
University  statutes  were  revised,  and  the  functions  of 
the  various  faculties,  committees,  and  departmental 
chiefs  given  both  a  due  differentiation  and  a  due  coordi- 
nation. The  entire  faculty  organization,  with  its  meth- 
ods of  operation,  expression,  and  control,  was  steadily 
overhauled,  and  its  parts  more  or  less  insensibly  but 
surely  so  articulated  as  to  make  an  efficient  working  ma- 
chine. 

Other  important  acts  in  internal  policy  were  the  es- 
tablishment of  the  offices  of  dean  of  undergraduates 
and  dean  of  women.  The  former  grew  out  of  Draper's 
appreciation  of  the  growing  impossibility  of  looking 
after  the  student  family  without  the  appointment  of 


GUIDANCE  OF  STUDENTS  189 

a  special  supervisor.  He  himself  tried  to  attend  as 
many  games  and  social  gatherings  as  possible,  but  he 
could  only  faintly  keep  in  touch  with  student  life.  So, 
too,  discipline  required  a  man  acquainted  with  student 
psychology,  in  the  mass  and  in  the  individual.  Thomas 
Arkle  Clark,  head  of  the  department  of  rhetoric,  who 
had  just  filled  the  acting  deanship  of  the  college  of  lit- 
erature and  arts,  and  who  was  popular  with  the  stu- 
dents, had  in  the  spring  of  1901  assisted  Draper  in  two 
trying  cases — one  concerning  a  member  of  the  ball  team, 
one  the  son  of  a  man  of  political  importance;  and  that 
June  he  was  given  the  first  place  of  the  sort  in  the 
country.  He  at  once  had  instituted  a  system  of  reports 
on  the  scholarship  and  absences  of  each  student;  he 
began  to  call  upon  sick  students  and  to  assist  the  needy 
to  find  work;  he  began  to  study  the  then  acute  prob- 
lems of  hazing,  dishonesty,  and  graft  in  undergraduate 
organizations  and  activities,  unwholesome  fraternity 
conditions,  excessive  drinking  and  gambling,  and  rowdy- 
ism in  the  celebration  of  athletic  successes.  The  force 
of  the  office  lay  not  so  much  in  its  rules  and  regulations 
as  in  the  reserve  strength  that  was  built  up  in  innumera- 
ble personal  interviews  and  acts  of  kindly  help,  while 
it  derived  much  from  Clark's  remarkable  memory  for 
names,  faces,  and  facts,  his  unusual  insight  into  the 
undergraduate  mind,  his  stubborn  persistence,  and  his 
generous  fund  of  optimism  and  good  humor.  The  long 
agitation  for  better  care  of  the  women  bore  fruit  when 
in  1897  Draper  saw  to  the  establishment  of  a  woman's 
department,  the  dean  of  which  was  to  be  the  advisor, 
disciplinarian,  and  protector  of  all  women  students. 
Missi  Violet  D.  Jayne,  educated  at  Michigan,  Minnesota, 
and  abroad,  who  had  been  in  charge  of  English  depart- 
ments in  State  normal  schools  in  Wisconsin  and  Call- 


190        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

fomia,  was  appointed,  with  duties  that  for  a  time  in- 
cluded the  teaching  of  some  English.  Her  experience, 
her  broad  culture,  and  her  capacity  as  a  leader  made 
her  a  happy  choice,  as  was  shown  by  the  fact  that  at 
an  early  address  to  a  woman's  convocation  she  obtained 
the  ratification  of  a  set  of  social  rules  of  comprehensive 
character.  The  women  agreed  that  they  would  go  to 
no  parties  except  at  week-ends,  that  they  would  insist 
upon  chaperones  at  all,  and  that  they  would  leave  at 
twelve  aU  except  those  which  the  faculty  had  agreed 
might  last  until  later.  At  this  convocation  was  also 
initiated  the  movement  which  resulted  in  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  "Woman's  League,  a  democratic  student  or- 
ganization. The  Woman's  Building  and  its  equipment 
of  social  rooms  came  too  late  to  assist  her  in  her  difficult 
work. 

For  steps  elevating  the  standards  of  instruction  Presi- 
dent Draper  was  always  alert.  He  sharply  limited  the 
University's  employment  of  professors  for  other  than 
their  instructional  duties — as  that  of  members  of  the 
architectural  department  on  the  buildings — which  had 
led  to  a  neglect  of  classes  and  a  jealousy  over  the  addi- 
tional compensation.  In  1899,  at  the  instance  of  Presi- 
dent and  faculty,  and  after  listening  to  a  special  argu- 
ment by  Dean  Forbes,  the  Trustees  gave  up  the  outworn 
division  of  the  University  year  into  three  terms  for  one 
into  two  semesters.  The  fees  were  made  $12  per 
semester.  The  teaching  of  preparatory  and  Freshmen 
students  together  in  elementary  French  and  German 
classes  was  stopped;  the  requirements  for  graduation 
in  law  were  increased ;  the  number  of  credits  given  for 
military  and  physical  training  was  made  better  to  cor- 
respond with  the  work  done — three;  and  a  six  years' 
course  in  combined  science  and  medicine  leading  to  both 


THE  SABBATICAL  YEAR  191 

scientific  and  medical  degrees  was  authorized.  The 
President  worked  constantly  if  sometimes  untactfully 
for  harmony  among  the  departments,  as  when  in  1898 
he  reorganized  electrical  engineering  in  still  fuller  in- 
dependence of  the  physics  department,  and  stormily 
dismissed  an  assistant  professor  whom  he  characterized 
as  a  trouble  maker  and  an  insubordinate.  He  moved, 
too,  towards  some  enlargement  of  the  faculty  compensa- 
tion. In  1900  a  committee  of  the  Trustees  reported  that 
no  material  advance  had  been  made  towards  the  max- 
imum salaries  named  in  the  classification  adopted  six 
years  previous,  which  ranged  from  $2,500  for  deans  to 
$1,800  for  assistant  professors.  It  was  eloquent  of  the 
general  underpayment  of  the  profession,  however,  that 
pay  at  Illinois  was  found  as  good,  on  the  whole,  as  at 
other  State  Universities,  Wisconsin  alone  making  an 
appreciably  better  showing.  The  Trustees  resolved  that 
the  salary  of  the  deans  be  made  $3,000  as  soon  as 
possible  and  that  henceforth  the  salary  of  no  full  pro- 
fessor be  less  than  $1,500.  In  the  next  two  years  legis- 
lative generosity  made  feasible  the  elevation  of  rewards 
which  this  represented.  It  left  salaries  still  low  and 
very  uneven,  and  much  complaint  was  constantly  heard, 
which  President  Draper  conveyed  to  the  Board.  But 
even  he  was  never  converted  to  the  gospel  of  more  than 
"adequate"  payment,  and  in  registering  the  discontent 
he  was  impelled  to  remark  that  the  scarcity  of  com- 
petent teachers  in  the  technical  branches  made  for  in- 
flated compensation. 

The  questions  of  leave  of  absence  for  study  and  of 
the  sabbatical  year  proved  rather  troublesome.  During 
the  interregnum  it  had  been  recommended  that  sab- 
batical years  at  half  pay  be  granted  professors  for 
study,  and  in  1897  Burrill,  Ricker,  and  Shattuck  were 


192        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

voted  such  leave,  to  be  taken  consecutively,  in  reward 
for  twenty-five  years  of  teaching.  This,  however,  was 
merely  part  of  the  sentiment  that  brought  about  some- 
v/hat  later  an  order  for  the  painting  of  the  portraits  of 
several  old  servants  by  N.  A.  "Wells.  Neither  Illinois  nor 
any  other  State  University  had  any  definite  rule  re- 
garding leaves  of  absence  with  pay  until  1900,  though 
several  gave  such  furloughs  on  varying  terms.  In  that 
year  the  Trustees  adopted  the  recommendation  of  the 
interregnum,  adding  a  provision  that  any  professor  who 
was  given  a  sabbatical  year  must  pledge  himself  to 
remain  three  years  after  his  return,  although  the  Uni- 
versity agreed  only  to  keep  him  for  one.  But  after 
several  professors  had  taken  leaves  it  was  found  that 
the  Board's  action  had  provoked  some  misunderstanding, 
for  certain  men  had  looked  upon  the  sabbatical  year 
simply  as  a  relief  from  regular  work.  In  1901  the 
Board  therefore  specified  that  it  was  not  a  furlough  in 
the  ordinary  sense,  but  a  ' '  leave  of  absence  for  the  pur- 
pose of  foreign  study";  at  the  same  time  the  privilege 
was  extended  to  associate  and  assistant  professors.^ 

The  spirit  of  faculty  life  in  this  period  witnessed  im- 
portant changes,  traceable  in  part  to  President  Draper's 
personality,  in  part  to  the  steady  growth  of  the  instruct- 

*  One  of  Draper's  policies  was  to  emphasize  the  traditions  of 
the  University.  He  liad  Dr.  Gregory  brought  to  deliver  a  course 
of  lectures  early  in  his  term — Gregory  then  holding  the  title 
of  professor  of  political  economy  emeritus,  though  his  residence 
was  in  Washington,  where  he  had  been  at  one  time  a  Civil 
Service  Commissioner.  He  also  obtained  the  attendance  of  Prof. 
Turner  at  commencement  in  1898,  though  the  latter  was  then  93 
years  old.  The  University,  Draper  thought,  "  might  well  do 
itself  the  honor  of  initiating  proceedings  looking  to  the  erection  of 
some  fitting  memorial  to  this  heroic  old  man,  whose  patriotic 
and  unyielding  purpose  brought  it  into  existence."  When  Gregory 
died  in  1898,  faculty  and  Trustees  adopted  resolutions  of  regret, 
and  in  accordance  with  his  wish  he  was  buried  on  the  campus. 
When  Turner  died  in  1899  similar  resolutions  were  adopted. 


FACULTY  LIFE  193 

ing  staff.  The  rather  elaborate  general  receptions  at 
the  President's  house,  and  his  practice  of  inviting  groups 
of  the  faculty,  largely  in  the  order  of  their  executive 
rank,  to  formal  dinners,  had  a  strong  influence  in  uni- 
fying and  at  the  same  time  socially  classifying  the 
body,  and  in  giving  a  more  formal  character  to  its  func- 
tions. The  evening  suit  for  men  first  became  customary 
at  small  dinner  parties,  and  urban  usages  of  etiquette 
were  insisted  upon.  The  complexity  of  the  gro"\nng 
University  community  was  reflected  in  the  birth  of  a 
number  of  organizations  to  bring  members  together  more 
frequently  and  intimately,  and  thus  to  diversify  the 
social  life.  The  most  important  of  these  was  the  Fac- 
ulty Social  Club,  open  to  all  of  both  sexes  in  the  Uni- 
versity faculty,  which  held  monthly  assemblies  for 
dancing,  card  playing,  and  a  small  supper.  Its  mem- 
bership gradually  became  too  large  for  the  rooms  avail- 
able to  it,  and  it  was  found  impossible  to  reconcile  the 
tastes  of  those  who  ^^'ished  to  dance  and  those  who  ob- 
jected to  doing  so.  In  direct  succession  to  it  came  two 
clubs,  one,  the  University  Club,  for  men  only ;  the  other, 
the  University  Women's  Social  Club,  enrolling  faculty 
women  and  the  wives  of  faculty  men.  The  history  of 
both  dates  from  the  years  following  upon  Dr.  James's 
coming,  and  both  still  continue  in  active  operation. 
The  former  was  organized  for  the  purpose  of  own- 
ing and  maintaining  a  clubhouse,  and  the  latter  from  the 
first  held  monthly  an  informal  reception  in  the  parlors 
of  the  Woman's  Building,  with  light  refreshments,  prov- 
ing especially  useful  in  making  newcomers  agreeably 
acquainted.  During  Dr.  Peabody's  administration  some 
smaller  clubs  had  been  formed,  notably  a  social  science 
club;  these  were  followed  under  Dr.  Draper  by  the 
"theory  club,"  which  met  at  intervals  for  the  discussion 


194        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

of  works  of  theoretical  character,  the  "philosophy  club," 
and  others. 

Between  President  Draper  and  the  Trustees  relations 
were  not  always  unclouded,  though  this  was  largely  the 
fault  of  the  administrative  system.  There  had  never 
been  a  clean-cut  distinction  between  legislative  action 
by  the  Trustees  and  executive  action  by  the  President. 
One  period  of  friction  came  to  a  head  in  1898,  when 
Draper  was  provoked  to  write  lucid  definitions  of  the 
functions  of  the  two,  and  to  have  them  introduced  by 
Trustee  Alexander  McLean,  always  an  active  friend  of 
the  institution.  The  function  of  the  Board,  it  was  de- 
clared, was  to  obtain  the  needed  revenues  of  the  Uni- 
versity, and  to  determine  the  ways  in  which  the  funds 
should  be  applied ;  it  was  to  map  out  University  policy, 
but  to  leave  the  execution  of  that  policy  to  its  executive 
agents,  who,  "within  the  general  lines  of  policy  laid 
down  by  the  Board,  .  .  .  should  not  be  interfered 
with."  Rather  superfluously,  it  was  added  that  "it  is 
no  function  of  a  Trustee  to  act  as  superintendent  of 
the  University  business,  and  it  would  be  most  repre- 
hensible in  a  Trustee  to  have  secret  meetings  or  under- 
standings with  members  of  the  faculty,  other  employes, 
or  students."  The  President,  as  chief  executive,  was  to 
have  constant  watch  and  care  over  every  University 
interest,  and  particularly  the  fullest  responsibility  in 
the  instructional  work;  he  was  to  recommend  new  fac- 
ulty members,  in  an  exigency  to  appoint  them,  and  to 
hold  their  teaching  to  just  standards;  and  the  Trustees 
were  to  recognize  that  it  was  neither  possible  nor  de- 
sirable for  them  to  direct  the  details  of  executive  action. 
The  passage  of  these  resolutions  was  accompanied  by  an 
expression  of  warm  appreciation  for  Draper's  labors. 

One  specific  point  of  disagreement  was  upon  the  re- 


AGRICULTURAL  EXPERIMENT  STATION    195 

mission  of  fees.  In  response  to  a  movement  among  the 
farmers  and  others,  the  Trustees  in  1901  asked  the 
Legislature  for  money  to  enable  them  to  surrender  all 
tuition  charges  to  Illinoisans.  Draper  thought  this 
action  ill-considered,  and  in  1903,  when  the  question  was 
revived,  uttered  a  spirited  protest.  He  pointed  out  that 
the  University  could  not  be  attended  by  all,  and  that  it 
was  therefore  not  on  a  footing  with  the  common  schools. 
He  had  sounded  the  sentiment  of  the  students,  and  had 
been  assured  that  they  would  rather  continue  paying 
the  fees  if  thereby  an  increase  might  be  made  in  the 
University's  equipment.  While  for  needy  students  able 
to  qualify  there  was  an  abundance  of  free  scholarships, 
for  the  general  undergraduate  body  the  character  of  the 
students'  work  was  improved  by  the  consciousness  that 
they  paid  something  for  their  instruction.  Finally,  he 
felt  that  the  small  colleges  of  the  State  would  suffer 
under  the  competition  if  tuition  were  remitted;  while 
he  showed  that  practically  all  other  State  Universities 
collected  tuition.  The  issue  was  therefore  dropped, 
though  not  before  it  had  made  a  considerable  under- 
graduate stir  and  caused  the  comptroller  much  trouble. 
But  Draper's  determined  insistence  upon  his  full  au- 
thority served  after  1898  to  make  the  Board  avoid 
rather  than  seek  mooted  questions. 

Of  the  promising  advances  made  in  the  fields  of  en- 
gineering and  agricultural  extension  activity  during 
this  period,  those  in  the  latter  were  easily  the  most 
important.  After  the  preliminary  changes  in  manage- 
ment which  immediately  followed  Dean  Davenport's 
arrival,  a  general  readjustment  was  effected  by  the  law 
of  1901 — "bill  315" — one  even  more  important  than  the 
previous  measure  providing  the  Agricultural  Building. 


196        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

Nothing  had  ever  before  been  appropriated  for  the 
station,  yet  this  carried  $108,000  for  the  biennium — the 
first  large  State  grant  for  the  purpose  in  America — 
and  opened  a  period  in  which  appropriations  were  by 
1909-10  to  reach  $276,000  for  the  biennium.  At  the 
same  time  $16,000— by  1907-08  to  reach  $142,000— was 
appropriated  for  the  biennium  for  the  specific  use  of 
Lhe  college;  for  a  striking  feature  of  the  act,  and  one 
much  to  Draper's  disgust,  was  that  the  funds  given 
station  and  college  were  set  wholly  apart  from  those 
given  the  rest  of  the  University.  Each  of  the  definite 
farming  interests  which  Davenport  had  enlisted  in  his 
fight  for  State  support  was  given  some  share  in  the 
appointment  of  advisory  committees  to  confer  with  the 
station  on  the  experiments  which  the  act  prescribed. 
Thus  the  Live  Stock  Breeders'  Association  was  to  ap- 
point a  committee  to  offer  advice  upon  experiments  af- 
fecting the  feeding  and  marketing  of  cattle;  the  Corn 
Growers'  Association,  Corn  Breeders'  Association,  and 
Grain  Dealers'  Association  were  to  assist  the  station  in 
devising  experiments  upon  the  best  methods  of  produc- 
ing corn;  the  State  Farmers'  Institute  was  to  appoint 
a  conference  committee  upon  the  analysis  of  the  soils 
of  the  State  and  their  maintenance;  the  State  Horti- 
cultural Society  upon  experiments  for  the  improvement 
of  orchard  treatment;  the  Illinois  Dairymen's  Associa- 
tion upon  the  investigation  and  improvement  of  dairy 
conditions;  and  the  Illinois  Beet  Sugar  Growers'  Asso- 
ciation upon  the  investigation  of  the  best  methods  of 
beet  sugar  culture.  The  Trustees,  of  course,  were  not 
limited  in  their  broad  control  of  the  whole  system.  As 
a  result  of  this  law,  popular  interest  in  the  station  at 
once  increased  greatly,  and  the  edition  of  its  bulletins 
rose  within  two  years  to  32,000  copies  of  each. 


WORK  IN  PUBLIC  SERVICE  197 

The  work  of  the  engineering  experiment  station  had 
before  1903  been  somewhat  anticipated  by  the  study 
within  the  civil  engineering  department  of  railway 
roadbed  construction,  and  right-of-way  maintenance,  and 
of  the  use  of  mortar  and  cements,  and  within  the  me- 
chanical engineering  department  by  that  of  railway 
operation.  The  station  first  made  provision  for  a  steam 
laboratory  and  its  equipment,  for  giving  the  laboratory 
of  applied  mechanics  appliances  for  advanced  work,  and 
for  developing  a  road  laboratory  for  testing  road  and 
pavings  materials.  Investigations  were  also  commenced 
at  the  end  of  the  administration  into  the  value  of  dif- 
ferent fuels.  Other  extension  activities  which  deserve 
mention  were  those  of  a  vaccine  laboratory  founded  for 
the  benefit  of  physicians  soon  after  Draper  came,  a 
chemical  laboratory  to  examine  the  State's  potable 
waters,  and  a  laboratory  of  economic  geology  which 
studied  clays,  lime  and  cement  materials,  and  building 
stone.-  An  effort  was  on  foot  during  this  period,  with 
Dean  Forbes  its  moving  spirit,  to  establish  a  State 
Geological  Survey ;  and  in  1901  a  conference  of  colleges 
was  held  in  Chicago  to  promote  the  movement,  and  the 
Legislature  was  asked  to  divide  the  Survey's  work 
among  the  different  institutions,  with  headquarters  at 
Illinois.  But  it  was  some  years  before  the  Survey  be- 
came a  fact.  Of  extension  work  in  the  narrowed  sense 
there  was  little,  for  no  effort  was  made  to  revive  the 
attempt  at  lecture  courses.  Near  the  end  of  the  admin- 
istration the  Trustees  appointed  a  committee  to  con- 
sider the  possibility  of  offering  correspondence  work 
in  agriculture,  but  it  arrived  at  no  material  result ;  ^ 

'  The  committee  that  considered  the  question  of  correspondence 
teaching  reported  that  the  University  seemed  to  bo  reaHiing  all 
but  three  classes  of  farmers — young  farmers  unable  to  attend 
college,  farmers'  children  who  wrote  to  a  University  office  that 


198        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

the  special  representatives  of  the  University  at  the 
Farmers'  Institutes  were  the  most  the  University  could 
show. 

For  the  encouragement  of  attendance  during  the  dec- 
ade every  means — the  accrediting  of  schools,  the  issu- 
ance of  circulars,  the  use  of  indirect  advertising — was 
employed.  The  entrance  requirements  were  steadily 
elevated,  but  only  to  spur  on  the  high  schools  to  better 
work,  and  to  keep  abreast  of  general  college  standards  in 
the  Middle  West.  In  1899  a  special  high  school  visitor, 
Stratton  D.  Brooks,  was  appointed,  and  within  two  years 
Draper  reported  that  the  schools  were  fast  improving, 
especially  in  the  northern  and  central  parts  of  the 
State,  so  that  the  students  of  160  were  admitted  without 
examination.^  Three  years  before  his  administration 
closed.  Draper  saw  to  the  thorough  reorganization  of  the 
preparatory  department,  now  called  the  academy.  The 
principal  and  instructors  were  all  informed  by  the 
Trustees  that  they  would  no  longer  be  wanted  unless 
reengaged,  the  inefficient  were  weeded  out,  and  a  num- 
ber of  net  additions  of  value  were  made  to  the  staff, 
clearing  the  way  for  a  high  school  course  of  compara- 
tively full  scope.  But  throughout  these  years  the  feel- 
ing was  growing  that  the  academy  had  no  rightful 
place  at  Illinois. 

It  was  under  Draper  that  the  boast  of  Peabody  that 

spent  much  time  in  correspondence  with  boys  and  girls  but  who 
could  not  later  attend  college,  and  teachers  of  rural  schools. 

*  Beginning  the  fall  of  1809  the  entrance  requirements  were 
made  36  credits,  the  term  credit  meaning  the  work  of  60  normal 
recitation  periods;  of  these,  28  were  in  prescribed  work,  while 
there  were  varying  restrictions  on  the  other  eight.  All  students 
had  to  offer  nine  credits  in  English  and  six  in  mathematics.  Be- 
ginning in  1903,  various  new  entrance  requirements  to  the  .dif- 
ferent colleges  were  prescribed,  the  net  demands  being  stiffened 
and  rationalized.  By  1904  there  were  about  250  accredited 
high  schools. 


STATE  RECOGNITION  199 

the  University  had  become  the  State  University  was 
first  fully  realized.  In  the  ten  years  it  passed  from  a 
shrinking  pretender  to  State  favor  to  an  institution 
whose  power  was  recognized  from  Chicago  to  Cairo. 
Significant  of  the  scant  esteem  in  which  many  still  held 
it  in  1894  was  the  remark  of  the  Chicago  Herald, 
apropos  of  the  choice  of  the  new  head,  that  "there  is 
no  such  thing  as  the  University  of  Illinois,"  and  that 
the  Trustees'  duties  consisted  in  "looking  over  the  rec- 
ords of  a  bucolic  school  in  the  interior,  and  awarding 
diplomas  of  husbandry  to  graduates  thereof  at  stated 
intervals."  Protests  from  various  sources  were  imme- 
diately heard,  to  be  sure,  and  they  prompted  the  Herald 
to  send  a  correspondent  to  the  University  and  to  recant 
in  a  special  article.  But  Gov.  Altgeld  still  found  it 
proper  in  his  message  of  1895  to  write:  "For  many 
years  there  has  been  maintained  ...  a  university  now 
known  as  the  University  of  Illinois.  For  some  reason 
our  people  do  not  seem  to  know  much  about  it.  By 
many  it  has  been  regarded  as  an  agricultural  school." 
Both  Draper  and  the  Trustees  appealed  to  the  students 
to  speak  of  the  institution  to  legislators  and  editors. 
The  addition  of  the  new  professional  departments  inter- 
ested the  professional  classes,  while  Altgeld  wisely  gave 
as  one  reason  for  his  approval  of  the  Chicago  depart- 
ments the  fact  that  they  would  enlist  the  support  of 
Chicago  business  interests.  Above  all,  Dean  Daven- 
port's skill  in  winning  the  farmers'  organizations  to  his 
side  counted  heavily  in  favor  of  the  whole  University; 
while  his  methods  were  to  some  extent  imitated  by  other 
departments — Draper  admitted  that  the  final  large  ap- 
propriation for  engineering  was  partly  due  "to  the 
very  cordial  cooperation  of  the  organizations  and  the 
business  men  engaged  in  the  building  and  the  construe- 


200        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

tive  business  of  the  State. ' '    Finally,  of  course,  the  sheer 
momentum  of  increasing  registration  had  its  due  effect. 

The  beginnings  of  the  administration  saw  student  life 
emerging  from  its  small  college;  atmosphere ;  by  the  end 
the  large  enrollment  had  made  it  approximately  what 
it  is  today,  with  the  many  peculiar  features  derived 
from  the  association  of  thousands  of  students  in  a  very 
small  community,  over  a  hundred  miles  from  any  large 
city,  in  an  environment  where  nature  contributes  little 
to  undergraduate  amusement.  Draper  and  the  faculty, 
members  of  which  he  constantly  asked  to  assist  him  in 
student  guidance,  did  much  to  cast  this  life  in  the  right 
mold,  and  relations  between  students  and  teachers  were 
much  healthier  than  before,  simply  because  they  were 
larger  and  freer.  At  the  outset  of  his  administration 
the  President  obtained,  in  convocation,  the  choice  of 
orange  and  blue  as  University  colors  in  place  of  the  old 
black  and  gold,  and  there  was  something  symbolic  in 
this  adoption  of  the  more  vivid,  decisive  hues. 

As  a  disciplinarian  Draper  excelled.  On  first  coming 
he  told  the  students  that  they  felt  too  much  loyalty  to 
the  classes,  too  little  to  the  institution;  and  he  warned 
them  with  some  effect  against  the  hazing  and  the  riotous 
celebrations  that  hurt  the  struggle  for  appropriations. 
When  early  in  1897  there  occurred  a  Freshman- 
Sophomore  clash  of  serious  consequences,  he  enforced  the 
University  regulations  in  a  memorable  way.  The  sopho- 
mores set  upon  the  freshmen  one  January  night  as  the 
latter  were  attending  a  class  supper  at  an  Urbana  hall, 
and  a  young  woman  was  temporarily  blinded  by  a  foul- 
smelling  chemical  thrown  among  the  guests;  two  stu- 
dents were  arrested,  and  after  an  uproar  the  others 
were  dispersed  by  the  fire  department.     The  Council 


ATHLETICS  "     201 

began  an  investigation  which  lasted  almost  uninter- 
ruptedly for  ten  days,  and  which  had  scant  charity  for 
student  bystanders  who  thought  it  dishonorable  to 
testify.  Draper  proclaimed  at  a  special  convocation  that 
undergraduates  who  refused  to  aid  the  authorities  with 
information  which  they  possessed  were  subject  to  dis- 
cipline as  severe  as  the  original  offenders.  The  Presi- 
dent also  wrote  the  State's  Attorney  reminding  him  that 
he  could  force  the  attendance  of  student  witnesses  and 
examine  them  under  oath,  and  he  made  it  clear  that 
he  would  support  the  officers  of  justice  in  every  way. 
The  students  reluctantly  agreed  that  he  was  right,  a 
number  of  onlookers  testified,  and  nine  students  were 
expelled  and  one  was  suspended — all  later  confessing. 
The  lesson  made  a  deep  impression,  and  no  disturbance 
of  such  magnitude  again  occurred,  though  one  or  two 
smaller  affairs  were  exploited  by  the  more  sensational 
Chicago  papers,  which  once  even  fabricated  a  story  about 
the  burning  of  Gov.  Tanner  in  effigy  on  the  University 
grounds. 

The  most  prominent  development  of  the  period  was 
in  athletics:  a  development  comprehending  a  great 
broadening  of  intercollegiate  relations,  the  rise  of  the 
coaching  system,  and  the  formulation  of  a  code  of  ath- 
letic ethics.  After  1894  the  University  played  few 
games  with  the  small  colleges,  and  matched  itself  chiefly 
with  members  of  the  present  Conference  and  with  Mich- 
igan. Considering  that  football  was  first  played  in 
1890,  it  made  its  way  to  parity  with  baseball  with  great 
rapidity;  in  1891  a  fair  team  played  a  series  of  six 
trans-Mississippi  games  which  carried  it  as  far  west  as 
the  University  of  Nebraska.  Like  all  Western  institu- 
tions, the  University  complained  that  few  high  school 
graduates  had  ever  so  much  as  seen  the  sport,   and 


202        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

George  Huff,  who  in  1895  returned  from  Dartmouth  as 
both  football  and  baseball  coach,  had  a  hard  task.  In 
1894  Illinois  defeated  Chicago,  but  lost  to  Purdue,  and 
the  record  was  thereafter  mixed,  Chicago  especially 
being  a  fairly  consistent  victor.  In  baseball  the  team 
was  uniformly  successful,  and  in  track  sports  it  did 
better  and  better,  though  Harry  Gill,  a  noted  Canadian 
athlete,  did  not  come  as  coach  till  1904.  The  year  1902 
was  signalized  by  an  Eastern  trip  on  the  part  of  the 
nine,  in  which  Princeton,  West  Point,  Yale,  and  Penn- 
sylvania were  successively  beaten,  though  Illinois  lost 
to  Harvard.  A  year  later  "Jake"  Stahl  made  the  home 
run  in  the  Illinois-Michigan  game  which  its  decisive 
nature  and  a  happy  photograph  rendered  so  memorable. 
The  conditions  under  which  the  early  games  were 
played  were  far  from  satisfactory  to  the  students,  and 
most  repugnant  to  the  faculty.  There  were  no  codes 
of  rules,  and  no  organizations  to  enforce  any.  The  pur- 
pose of  coaches  in  Lackey's  day  was  to  win  games  at 
any  cost,  and  they  would  themselves  sometimes  displace 
players  who  displeased  them — Alonzo  Stagg  entered  the 
first  Chicago-Illinois  contest.  One  early  regulation 
stated  that  no  team  might  include  more  than  two  pro- 
fessionals. It  is  true  that  at  Illinois  and  elsewhere  all 
possible  emphasis  rapidly  came  to  be  laid  on  the  desira- 
bility of  making  the  team  members  genuine  representa- 
tives of  the  undergraduate  body,  and  that  even  when 
there  was  yet  no  definition  of  an  amateur,  a  list  of  the 
contestants  by  classes,  certified  to  by  the  president,  was 
insisted  upon.  But  repeatedly  games  were  broken  off 
because  of  some  savage  quarrel  as  to  team  personnel  or 
playing  methods,  and  the  athletic  departments  of  half 
the  universities  were  so  frequently  on  bad  terms  with 
each  other  that  the  bitterness  is  still  retained  in  some 


CONFERENCE  RULES  203 

college  songs.  It  was  a  crying  misfortune  that  the 
Eastern  coaches  had  not  brought  Eastern  standards  and 
rules  with  them. 

Finally,  early  in  1895  the  presidents  of  Illinois,  North- 
western, Wisconsin,  Purdue,  Minnesota,  Lake  Forest, 
and  Chicago  felt  forced  to  meet  in  convention  and  draw 
up  the  rules  which  are  the  basis  of  the  existing  Confer- 
ence. The  passage  of  a  resolution  that  all  Western  teams 
should  put  an  end  to  professionalism  was  followed  by 
the  adoption  of  eleven  specific  regulations.  The  chief 
requirement  was  that  each  player  should  be  a  student 
carrying  full  work  under  certificate  by  the  registrar. 
It  was  provided  that  a  man  leaving  one  college  might 
not  play  upon  the  team  of  a  second  for  six  months — an 
important  rule,  for  the  universities  had  been  bribing 
men  in  small  colleges  to  change  their  registration.  No 
man  delinquent  in  his  studies  could  play,  none  was  to 
be  given  pay  for  playing,  and  college  teams  might  not 
play  professional  teams  or  athletic  clubs  in  regular 
games,  as  Illinois  then  did.  Finally,  each  college  was 
to  create  a  faculty  committee  on  athletics.  These  rules 
were  not  to  be  binding  till  the  various  universitj^  fac- 
ulties had  ratified  them,  but  in  most  cases  this  ratifica- 
tion soon  followed.  A  year  later,  again,  delegates  from 
seven  universities — ^Michigan  displacing  Lake  Forest — 
met  at  Chicago,  most  of  the  delegates  being  coaches  or 
athletic  directors.  H.  H.  Everett  represented  Illinois. 
A  harmonious  session  was  followed  by  the  adoption  of 
rules  which  represented  a  marked  advance  over  those 
of  the  previous  year.  It  was  provided  that  no  student 
who  had  ever  used  his  athletic  skill  for  gain  was  eligible 
for  a  team,  and  no  instructor.  The  chairman  of  any 
athletic  committee  might  challenge  a  player,  who  must 
thereupon  be  made  the  subject  of  a  report  by  his  own 


204        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

athletic  committee — this  report  to  be  conclusive.  Each 
player  must  sign  a  statement  as  to  his  eligibility.  All 
athletic  association  accounts  must  be  audited  by  a  com- 
mittee on  which  the  faculty  was  represented,  and  the 
legitimate  expenses  of  team  members  were  enumerated, 
the  difference  between  ordinary  board  and  the  training 
table  being  admitted  as  one. 

Not  all  the  universities  lived  up  to  this  set  of  rules, 
though  Minnesota,  Purdue,  and  Illinois  most  honorably 
did.  Three  universities  for  a  time  refused  to  accept  the 
six  months'  rule,  and  Chicago  also  refused  to  bar  team 
members  who  had  formerly  accepted  money  for  playing, 
but  who  were  in  college  sports  when  the  rule  was  passed. 
Wisconsin's  students  and  faculty  were  in  the  main  sup- 
porters of  the  rules,  but  the  football  managers  obtained 
the  defeat  of  some  of  them  through  the  regents.  Some 
Illinois  students  thought  at  this  time,  probably  unjustly, 
that  various  rivals  were  out  to  win  by  hook  or  crook. 
At  Chicago  one  man,  remarked  the  indignant  Illini, 
* '  has  been  in  athletics  there  since  the  institution  opened. 
He  will  probably  be  there  when  Macaulay's  New  Zea- 
lander  stands  on  the  wreck  of  London  Bridge  and  views 
the  ruins  of  modern  civilization.  It  is  an  open  secret 
that  Nichols  has  for  several  years  played  games  for 
money."  Such  accusations  were  bandied  rather  too 
loosely  in  the  Conference,  and  there  was  a  resultant  ill- 
feeling  of  covert  sort  among  many  members,  especially 
when,  as  often  happened,  one  team  defeated  another 
through  challenged  men.  Thus  after  Chicago's  victory 
over  Illinois  in  1896  Nichols  was  more  execrated  than 
ever. 

The  activities  of  clubs  and  societies  naturally  multi- 
plied during  a  period  of  such  expanding  registration. 
Next  to  the  Athletic  Association,  the  Christian  Associa- 


STUDENT  DRAMATICS  205 

tions  were  most  prominent,  for  the  faculty  heartily  en- 
couraged them  as  evidences  that  Illinois  was  not  irre- 
ligious. After  collecting  a  large  part  of  its  pledged 
building  fund,  the  growth  of  the  University  inspired  the 
y.  M.  C.  A.  to  plan  a  larger  building,  and  it  rested  con- 
tent with  temporary  quarters  while  it  raised  more 
money.  Both  it  and  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.  had  many  more 
functions  after  the  abolition  of  chapel  in  the  fall  of 
1894.  Chapel  had  become  stiff  and  formal,  it  was  no 
longer  well  attended — for  no  roll  was  called — and  it  in- 
terfered more  and  more  with  the  numerous  early  classes. 
For  a  time  a  semi-regular  assembly  was  substituted, 
when  all  regular  exercises  were  suspended,  and  the 
faculty  and  students  called  to  hear  a  religious  program 
and  an  address;  but  this,  too,  soon  disappeared.  The 
Associations  cooperated  with  the  several  churches,  and 
it  was  through  their  efforts  that  by  1900  Illinois  had 
more  students  actively  interested  in  religious  work  than 
any  other  institution  in  the  State. 

Forensic  interests  were  still  at  a  lower  ebb  than  be- 
fore, although  the  University,  after  its  withdrawal  from 
the  State  Oratorical  Association,  began  debating  with 
Chicago  and  with  other  State  universities.  An  English 
Club,  formed  of  faculty  and  advanced  students  under 
the  leadership  of  Prof.  Dodge  to  study  contemporary 
writers,  established  itself  flourishingly.  The  greatest  in- 
novation was  the  sudden  birth  of  dramatic  activity.  The 
new  Cercle  Frangais  produced  "ha,  Cigale  Chez  les 
Fourmis"  in  1895,  and  followed  it  with  "ha  Poudre  aux 
Yeux,"  ''Le  Bourgeois  Gentilhomme, "  and  "Le  Me- 
decin  Malgre  Lui."  The  new  Deutscher  Verein  proved 
a  sturdy  rival  with  "Minna  von  Barnhelm, "  produced 
ambitiously,  "Guenstige  Vorzeichen,"  and  "Einer 
Muss  Heiraten."     The  students'  Dramatic  Club  gave 


206         THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

''The  Rivals,"  ''The  School  for  Scandal,"  ''Miss 
Hobbs,"  and  other  plays,  the  English  Club  gave 
"Twelfth  Night,"  there  was  an  Opera  Club  that  gave 
six  of  the  Gilbert  and  Sullivan  operas  in  succession,  a 
Choral  Society  that  presented  "Hiawatha's  Wedding 
Feast"  one  year  and  a  Christmas  Concert  another,  and 
an  organization  with  guarantors  which  supported  an 
annual  musical  festival  in  May.  Dancing  became  an 
amusement  of  much  greater  appeal  at  this  time,  for 
while  the  class  dances  (long  quasi-secret  affairs)  had 
been  known  before  Draper  came,  they  were  now  much 
more  imposing  events,  and  Cotillion,  Prom,  and  Senior 
and  Military  Balls  were  all  held  with  pomp  and  circum- 
stance in  the  Armory.  Capt.  D.  H.  Brush  arranged  the 
first  cadet  hops  in  1896  as  a  means  of  breaking  the 
social  ice  for  the  Freshmen;  and  two  years  later  a 
students'  dancing  club  came  into  being  and  held  in- 
formal dances  at  stated  intervals. 

A  great  shaking-up  of  student  publications  came  mid- 
way in  Draper's  administration  (1899),  when  he,  ex- 
pressing general  sentiment,  called  for  a  radical  change 
in  the  management  of  several  of  the  periodicals.  The 
old-style  literary  Illini,  he  thought,  was  outworn;  in 
appearing  only  weekly  it  could  carry  no  real  news,  its 
literary  features  were  poor,  and  the  University's  sup- 
port destroyed  its  independence  of  tone.  He  recom- 
mended a  semi-weeldy  or  tri-weekly  newspaper,  to  be 
managed  by  the  students  alone,  and — ^by  implication — a 
separate  college  magazine.  He  also  proposed  that  a 
series  of  University  bulletins  be  instituted  under  the 
direction  of  the  Council  to  embody  the  results  of  careful 
research  work,  and  that  the  Agriculturist  and  the 
Technograph  be  merged  with  it.  In  partial  pursuance 
of  these  ideas  the  Illini  appeared  that  autumn  as  a  tri- 


UNDERGRADUATE  ATMOSPHERE    207 

weekly  newspaper,  dingily  printed  but  alive  and  clever 
— an  adequate  organ  of  the  University  intelligence.  A 
year  later  the  Varsity  Fortniglitly  (subsequently  the 
Illinois)  took  its  place  as  the  college  magazine,  though 
it  led  a  precarious  existence.  Under  its  later  title  it 
was  managed  by  the  English  Club  and  filled  with  Eng- 
lish Club  papers.  The  TecIinograpJi  and  the  Agricul- 
turist continued  to  appear  in  their  old  form,  and  con- 
tinued to  improve.  The  President's  idea  of  the  special 
series  of  University  bulletins  bore  fruit  in  the  now 
important  University  Studies. 

The  four  fraternities  that  existed  at  the  end  of  the 
interregnum  grew  in  the  decade  to  thirteen,  while  there 
appeared  no  less  than  five  sororities.  All  these  organ- 
izations acquired  homes,  which,  though  still  only  frame 
structures,  helped  greatly  in  solving  the  housing  prob- 
lem, especially  for  the  girls.  These  were  years  of  great 
fraternity  influence,  for  the  faculty  smiled  on  the  or- 
ganizations. Four  honorary  fraternities  were  also 
formed  during  the  decade,  and  each  did  something  to 
elevate  standards  of  scholarship.  In  short,  the  student 
who  was  at  the  University  in  1904  saw  nearly  all  the 
phases  of  student  life,  though  in  elementarj^  form,  that 
are  seen  by  the  student  today.  The  chief  distinction 
lay  in  the  existence  of  a  little  more  of  roughness,  a  little 
less  of  social  and  intellectual  refinement.  Hazing,  for 
example,  was  rising  to  an  extreme  height,  and  the  sous- 
ing of  freshmen  in  the  Boneyard  at  night  and  the  cut- 
ting of  their  hair  usually  ended  only  after  the  color  rush 
in  mid-October.  The  manners  of  the  students,  in  the 
fraternities  and  on  the  campus,  were  to  change  for  the 
better.  But  all  the  spontaneity  of  present-day  life  was 
there,  from  the  time  when  the  free  silver  issue  called 
forth  the  University's  own  ''Boy  Orator  of  the  Bone- 


208        THE  UNIVERSITY  FINDS  ITSELF 

yard"  and  Spain  was  burnt  in  effigy  to  that  when  the 
undergraduates  expressed  in  mass  meeting  their  unani- 
mous indignation  that  they  could  not  wholly  manage  ath- 
letics for  themselves. 

The  resignation  of  Draper  was  not  unexpected,  and 
for  it  a  variety  of  causes  may  be  assigned.  The  reason 
which  he  gave  chief  prominence  was  that  he  could  not 
resist  the  call  of  duty  in  his  native  State,  which  had 
offered  him  the  newly  created  post  of  Commissioner  of 
Education  in  a  way  constituting  a  personal  triumph  for 
him.  When  he  had  left  the  Superintendency  of  Public 
Education  in  1892,  it  was  largely  because  of  friction 
between  his  office  and  that  of  the  President  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  the  State  of  New  York.  Now  his  political 
friends  had  combined  the  two  offices  in  the  Commis- 
sionership.  Its  incumbent  was  given  ''power  to  create 
such  departments  as  in  his  judgment  shall  be  neces- 
sary," and  to  appoint  or  approve  the  appointment  of  all 
officers;  and  Draper  was  thus  virtually  asked  to  re- 
create the  Department  of  Education  in  the  greatest 
State  and  the  State  where  the  department  was  most 
powerful.  But  he  was  influenced  by  other  considera- 
tions as  well.  He  had  unfortunately  become  sensitive 
over  the  lameness  under  which  he  labored  after  1902, 
when  he  had  been  thrown  from  his  carriage  while  driving 
a  spirited  team — he  was  fond  of  driving  about  the  Uni- 
versity— and  had  had  a  leg  amputated.  He  had  re- 
turned to  work  again  that  fall,  but,  as  he  said,  he 
"could  not  escape  the  feeling  that  it  would  be  better  for 
the  University  to  have  a  President  who  was  without  any 
physical  disability."  Finally,  he  saw  that  his  great 
work  was  done,  and  that  it  was  time  for  a  President  of 
different  character.    The  aggressive  man  of  affairs  had 


DRAPER'S  DEPARTURE  209 

had  his  day;  it  was  time  for  the  man  who,  while  as 
trained  an  administrator  and  under  the  spur  of  neces- 
sity as  great  a  fighter,  was  primarily  a  scholar,  able  to 
develop  the  institution  in  every  branch  of  academic 
growth.  "The  great  steps  which  need  now  be  taken  in 
the  advance  of  the  University  may  better  be  taken  under 
a  new  man  of  different  type,"  he  explained.  He  left 
on  April  1,  1904,  and  after  June  Dr.  Burrill  became 
acting  President. 

A  special  committee  of  the  Trustees  spent  some  time 
in  looking  about  for  a  successor  to  Dr.  Draper;  and  its 
search  led  to  the  presentation  of  the  name  of  Edmund 
J.  James,  who  had  been  born  in  Illinois  and  had  spent 
most  of  his  life  within  the  State.  It  especially  appealed 
to  Ulinoisans  that  he  was,  as  his  nominators  said,  "fa- 
miliar with  our  constitution,  our  laws,  our  free  school 
system,  the  temperament,  character,  and  resources  of  our 
people,  and  the  history,  traditions,  scope,  and  possibili- 
ties of  this  great  University."  Dean  Davenport  was 
also  suggested  for  the  post.  Towards  the  close  of  August 
Dr.  James  was  elected,  and  though  Northwestern  Univer- 
sity, of  which  he  was  head,  upon  learning  that  he  was 
about  to  be  lost,  offered  him  counter-inducements  to  re- 
main there,  he  was  prevailed  upon  to  come. 


VI 

THE  UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

Lines  of  University  Development.  Growing  Appropriations 
and  the  Mill  Tax.  Doubling  of  the  Number  of  Buildings.  Spe- 
cial Expansion  in  Agriculture  and  Engineering.  Lincoln  Hall 
and  Graduate  Work.  The  Courses  in  Business  Administration. 
Unification  of  Science  and  Liberal  Arts.  The  College  of  Medicine 
Gains  Its  Feet.     The  University  Reaches  State  Leadership. 

The  keynote  of  Draper's  administration  had  been 
material  growth  according  to  a  policy  which  made  for 
sure  and  exact  discipline  upon  a  plane  set  none  too 
high.  That  of  Dr.  James's  administration  was  to  be 
material  growth  upon  a  policy  making  for  the  imbuing 
of  the  University  with  advancing  intellectual  ideals. 
His  part  in  the  growth  of  the  University  was  to  be  as 
prominent  as  had  been  his  predecessor's,  for  his  per- 
sonality from  the  outset  impressed  itself  upon  every 
part  of  the  institution.  The  new  President  was  not  yet 
fifty,  but  with  a  long  record  of  administrative  work  in 
education.  In  point  of  scholarly  equipment,  he  was 
much  better  prepared  than  any  previous  head.  He  had 
been  born  in  Jacksonville  at  the  time  Turner  was  busiest 
there  with  his  propaganda.  He  was  educated  at  the 
State  Normal  School,  at  Northwestern,  at  Harvard,  and 
at  Halle,  where  he  received  his  doctorate  in  1877.  After 
a  period  in  normal  school  work  in  Illinois,  he  became 
professor  of  public  administration  at  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania,  remaining  there  twelve  years,  organizing 
the  graduate  instruction,  and  for  a  time  directing  the 
Wharton  School  of  Finance.  He  left  in  1896  to  become 
professor  at  the  University  of  Chicago  and  director  of 

210 


President  Edmund  J.  James 


INAUGURATION  OF  DR.  JAMES  211 

its  extension  division,  whence  in  1902  he  was  called  to 
become  president  of  Northwestern.  Thoroughly  con- 
versant with  affairs  in  Illinois,  and  able  to  deal  with 
Legislature  and  public  more  tactfully  than  Draper,  if  not 
so  doggedly,  he  had  also  a  trait  which  none  but  Gregory 
had  possessed — high  enthusiasm  in  looking  to  the  Uni- 
versity's future. 

His  installation  took  place  more  than  a  year  after  he 
entered  upon  his  duties,  in  the  fall  of  1905,  and  was 
attended  by  many  educators  of  prominence.  Three  con- 
ferences were  held,  on  university  administration,  on 
commercial  education,  and  on  religion  in  the  State  Uni- 
versity, with  Presidents  Remsen,  Strong,  Angell,  King, 
Chancellor  Andrews,  and  others  speaking.  But  the  prin- 
cipal feature  of  the  exercises  was  the  emphasis  laid  on 
the  connection  of  the  University  with  nation  and  State. 
Attention  was  called  to  the  military  side  of  its  training 
by  delegations  from  the  army,  militia,  and  West  Point. 
Federal  officials,  especially  of  the  Agricultural  Depart- 
ment, were  asked  to  come.  The  Governor  was  present, 
with  Illinois  Congressmen,  judges,  and  legislators.  The 
officers  of  the  counties  and  principal  cities  throughout 
Illinois  were  invited,  and  many  were  in  attendance. 
Due  recognition  was  given  the  teaching  body  of  the 
normal,  high,  and  graded  schools.  Delegates  were  also 
present  from  a  score  of  agricultural,  horticultural,  and 
engineering  societies,  as  weU  as  from  scientific  bodies  not 
connected  with  education.  In  short,  the  installation  was 
meant  to  call  national  attention  to  the  progress  of  State- 
supported  education  in  the  United  States,  and  to  point 
out  how  it  not  only  supplemented  the  great  endowed 
institutions,  but  had  become  a  scientific  and  educational 
arm  of  the  Government — an  ally  of  public  administra- 
tion.   The   students   played  their  part   with   a   night 


212     UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

parade  with  floats;  and  during  the  week  the  Woman's 
Building  was  dedicated. 

In  one  of  his  interviews  with  Dr.  James,  Draper  de- 
livered what  he  believed  a  sage  word  of  advice.  The 
University,  he  thought,  had  forced  the  State  to  as  high 
a  limit  of  generosity  as  it  would  go.  The  task  to  which 
Dr.  James  should  set  himself  was  the  raising  of  scholarly 
standards  and  the  improvement  of  instruction — to  in- 
ternal, not  external  development.  That  the  President 
did  not  follow  this  advice  both  circumstances  and  hig 
astuteness  may  be  thanked.  As  it  happened,  in  1904  the 
State's  expenditures  for  all  purposes  were  just  begin- 
ning a  marked  expansion.  It  was  the  very  time  to  drive 
home  with  all  emphasis  the  University's  needs  and  to 
obtain  some  permanent  provision  for  the  future.  Within 
the  decade  the  State 's  annual  budget  more  than  doubled. 
Of  this  increase  the  University  had  to  ask  for  its  share 
at  the  psychological  moment.  Despite  the  State's  in- 
creasing wealth,  had  it  waited  till  1915  to  make  its  de- 
mands for  redoubled  State  support  it  would  have  met 
the  cold  shoulder  of  a  reaction  towards  general 
economy. 

The  new  President  soon  showed  his  ability:  six 
months  after  he  took  office  he  entered  the  legislative 
lists,  and  obtained  an  advance  of  about  a  half  million 
over  the  final  appropriation  under  Draper.  Two  years 
later  nearly  $400,000  more  than  this  was  obtained,  or 
well  over  two  millions,  and  while  the  University  had 
asked  a  round  million  for  buildings,  it  felt  fortunate  in 
obtaining  half  that  amount.  Thereafter  the  Legislature 
was  forced  to  one  concession  after  another.  For  the 
third  biennium  (1909)  it  granted  over  three  millions, 
and  two  years  later  not  only  added  some  $200,000  to 
this,  but  passed  the  mill  tax  law  which  made  the  Uni- 


APPROPRIATIONS  213 

versity's  financial  future  forever  reasonably  sure.  To 
do  this  required  not  only  hard  and  consistent  effort  on 
the  part  of  the  President  and  faculty;  it  required  that 
the  State,  steadily  changing  its  attitude  of  indifference 
for  one  of  hearty  approbation  of  the  University,  be 
made  to  express  that  approbation  in  terms  that  the 
legislators  must  understand. 

In  all  his  activities  at  Springfield,  President  James 
employed  the  methods  that  had  been  so  successfully 
introduced  by  Dean  Davenport  for  the  college  of  agri- 
culture. The  corps  of  influential  farmers  that  the  dean 
had  marshaled  was  induced  to  speak  not  only  for  the 
college  but  the  University.  A  large  number  of  other 
interests  were  brought  behind  it.  In  1906  the  Illinois 
Bankers'  Association  was  persuaded  to  urge  a  large  ap- 
propriation for  the  business  courses,  and  it  was  followed 
by  insurance  bodies.  The  Clay  Workers'  Association 
and  other  ceramic  societies  seconded  the  request  for 
ceramics  appropriations.  An  application  for  money  to 
found  a  veterinary  college  was  supported  by  the  Live 
Stock  Breeders'  Association,  the  Union  Stock  Yards, 
and  other  bodies.  The  State  Medical  Association  took 
keen  interest  in  the  legislative  attitude  towards  the 
medical  school.  The  heads  of  the  normal  schools  and 
five  different  teachers'  associations  repeatedly  peti- 
tioned for  the  establishment  of  a  school  of  education. 
Whereas  in  1902  the  State  College  Association,  com- 
posed of  the  presidents  of  the  small  colleges,  had  been  on 
the  point  of  inaugurating  a  systematic  campaign  against 
the  University,  Dr.  James  persuaded  them  to  unite 
in  a  request  to  the  Governor  to  increase  its  appropria- 
tions. Late  in  1910  a  committee  of  agriculturists  visited 
nine  other  State  institutions  teaching  agriculture,  and 
returning  to  Illinois,  determined  where  the  college  at 


214     UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

Urbana  was  deficient  and  let  the  Legislature  know. 
Even  earlier  representatives  of  sixteen  railways,  under 
President  Delano  of  the  "Wabash,  drafted  resolutions 
supporting  the  University  in  its  fight  for  the  railway 
courses.  To  the  alumni  Dr.  James  appealed  as  his  prede- 
cessors never  had.  You  \vill  do  a  great  service,  he 
urged  them  in  1909,  "if  you  yourselves  will  write  to 
your  representatives  in  the  Legislature,  and  if  you  will 
get  your  friends  and  acquaintances  in  your  legislative 
district  to  do  the  same  thing.  ...  If  your  residence  is 
no  longer  in  the  State  of  Illinois,  you  surely  know  some 
people  in  the  State  whom  you  could  persuade  to  exert 
their  influence  along  the  same  line.  The  members  of 
the  Legislature  are  friendly  to  the  University,  but  it 
is  natural  that  they  should  feel  that  if  the  people  of  the 
State  really  want  a  great  University  they  should  be  will- 
ing to  express  that  desire."  The  Western  Society  of 
Engineers  and  similar  societies  also  came  to  the  Uni- 
versity's assistance  at  Springfield.  By  1911  it  was  a 
dull  legislator  who  did  not  fully  appreciate  the  interest 
of  the  public. 

The  session  of  1909  witnessed  a  more  stirring  discus- 
sion of  University  requests  than  had  any  other.  Op- 
posed to  the  University's  chance  of  obtaining  its  three 
millions  were  the  facts  that  other  public  demands  were 
also  great,  that  the  State  income  was  not  materially 
larger,  and  that  the  Administration  was  interested  in 
making  an  economical  showing.  The  opposition  took  the 
double  form  of  criticism  of  the  University  and  attacks 
on  specific  items.  A  special  attempt  was  made  by 
President  James  to  obtain  funds  for  raising  salaries,  and 
to  call  attention  in  this  connection  to  related  deficiencies 
of  the  University  as  compared  with  other  institutions. 
Senate  and  House  were  argued  into  the  passage  of  a 


APPROPRIATIONS  215 

resolution  recognizing  the  insufficiency  of  the  scale  of 
pay,  and  calling  on  the  Trustees  to  adopt  such  a  policy 
"as  in  their  judgment  would  attract  to  and  retain  in 
the  service  of  the  University  and  the  State  the  best 
available  ability  of  this  and  other  countries."  It  was 
made  clear  that  Illinois  was  losing  valuable  men  to 
other  colleges.  The  press  earnestly  supported  Presi- 
dent James.  The  Chicago  Tribune,  for  example,  com- 
pared the  State's  treatment  of  its  University  to  that 
which  Wisconsin  accorded  its  institution  at  Madison, 
and  proceeded:  "The  University  of  Illinois  asks  large 
sums  now  because  it  has  not  been  nurtured  as  it  should 
have  been  some  years  ago.  .  .  .  The  plain  facts  are  that 
the  University  needs  additional  schools  and  depart- 
ments. Its  teachers  ought  to  have  better  pay.  There 
should  be  no  question  about  the  salary  of  its  President. 
Every  dollar  spent  for  advances  is  quite  likely  to  be 
repaid  in  indirect  ways,  all  leading  toward  the  great- 
ness of  Illinois."  The  most  damaging  blow  to  the  Uni- 
versity came  in  the  dissensions  in  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
culminating  when  Mrs.  Carrie  T.  Alexander,  a  member 
of  willful  mind,  spoke  before  a  legislative  committee  in 
terms  that  were  generally  regarded  as  denunciatory  of 
the  University's  requests.  Her  action  was  at  once  con- 
demned by  the  Board,  by  student  organs,  by  alumni 
bodies  throughout  the  country,  and  by  the  press.  For- 
tunately, it  had  little  effect.  Gov.  Deneen,  too,  stood 
by  the  University ;  and  though  final  and  determined  at- 
tacks were  made  upon  the  items  for  the  graduate  school, 
the  law  school,  and  the  library,  they  were  unsuccessful, 
only  certain  requests  for  buildings  suffering. 

The  battle  for  the  epoch-making  mill  tax  law,  which 
placed  the  University  beyond  the  mere  passing  whim  of 
the  Legislature  and  gave  it  not  only  a  steady  income, 


216     UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

but  one  of  the  largest  university  incomes  in  the  world, 
was  as  hard.  The  President  carried  to  Springfield,  and 
gave  currency  over  the  State,  figures  which  powerfully 
contrasted  Illinois  with  other  universities  and  colleges. 
It  was  shown  that  the  cost  of  buildings  erected  at  Il- 
linois was  under  one  and  a  half  millions,  much  less  than 
at  any  of  the  other  great  universities,  and  less  even  than 
at  Iowa  State  College,  Northwestern,  or  the  combined 
universities  and  agricultural  colleges  of  Kansas,  of  Ohio, 
or  of  Washington.  The  library  of  Illinois,  then  holding 
160,000  volumes,  was  shown  to  be  eleventh  in  the  coun- 
try, though  the  University  was  not  near  the  collections 
of  any  large  city ;  it  was  less  than  half  as  large  as  those 
of  Cornell,  Chicago,  or  Pennsylvania.  The  total  annual 
income  of  Illinois  was  shown  to  represent  about  thirty 
cents  per  capita  of  State  population,  while  California's 
was  over  a  dollar  and  Wisconsin's  about  seventy  cents. 
The  ratio  of  its  income  to  the  property  value  of  the 
State  was  lower  still,  placing  it  ninth  among  the  State 
universities.  President  James  asserted  that  the  Legis- 
lature had  given  about  $150,000  a  year  during  the  last 
six  years  for  buildings,  and  that  at  this  rate  it  would 
take  half  a  century  to  catch  up  with  the  actual  existing 
needs  of  the  University.  Money  was  shown  to  be  badly 
needed  by  the  graduate  school,  which  had  more  than 
fulfilled  the  expectations  of  its  growth,  by  the  overgrown 
engineering  college,  and  by  the  struggling  law  college. 

The  President  was  much  assisted  by  the  attitude  of 
Gov.  Deneen,  who  presented  in  his  message  of  1911  a 
more  careful  review  of  the  needs  of  the  University  than 
it  had  ever  had,  and  suggested  the  many  additional 
functions  it  might  perform.  The  newspapers,  which 
had  not  warmed  to  an  older  proposal  for  a  ten-million- 
dollar  bond  issue  to  form  an  endowment  for  the  Uni- 


THE  MILL  TAX  217 

versity,  gave  general  support  to  the  mill  tax  law.  They 
laid  special  emphasis  on  the  fact  that  it  would  give  the 
University  stability  in  development  and  almost  com- 
plete freedom  from  politics.  The  agricultural  investi- 
gating committee  already  mentioned  proved  of  service, 
as  did  the  alumni  in  the  Legislature.  Senator  Dunlap 
deserves  a  special  word:  two  years  before  he  had  car- 
ried a  mill  tax  bill  based  on  a  one-fifth  valuation  of 
property  through  the  Senate;  and  he  now  first  had  a 
three-quarter  mill  tax  measure  based  on  a  one-third  val- 
uation passed,  and  then  obtained  the  passage  there  of  the 
mill  tax  bill  (on  the  new  one-third  valuation)  which 
President  James  had  had  introduced  in  the  House.  The 
lobbying  of  the  University  officers  for  this  and  for  the 
huge  appropriation  of  five  and  a  half  million  dollars 
which  they  had  requested  was  redoubled,  until  the  Illini 
protested  against  the  time  they  were  spending  in  Spring- 
field. Finally  the  measures  went  through,  directing  that 
a  mill  tax  **for  each  dollar  of  the  assessed  valuation  of 
the  taxable  property  of  this  State"  should  be  "paid  into 
the  Treasury  of  the  State  and  set  apart  as  a  fund  for 
the  use  of  the  University,"  to  "remain  in  the  Treasury 
.  .  .  until  appropriated  to  the  use  of  the  said  Uni- 
versity. ' ' 

The  new  law  meant  not  only  a  strengthening  but  a 
simplification.  Theretofore  two  budgets  had  been  neces- 
sary: one  to  be  presented  to  the  Legislature  represent- 
ing departmental  needs,  the  other  to  be  drawn  up  by  a 
conference  of  the  University's  departments  after  the 
Legislature  had  determined  how  much  of  the  total  it 
could  give.  It  was  still  necessary  to  present  a  legis- 
lative budget,  to  indicate  how  the  University  proposed 
to  spend  the  money  appropriated  from  the  proceeds  of 
the  mill  tax,  but  this  budget  could  be  much  more  nearly 


218     UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

final.  As  a  general  basis  for  its  future  drafting,  the 
college  faculties  were  asked  in  1912  to  present  a  series 
of  reports  upon  the  most  imperative  demands  of  the 
departments  in  those  faculties.  There  was  no  longer 
necessity  for  a  succession  of  faculty  visits  to  Spring- 
field, no  longer  the  old  motive  for  strenuous  effort  in 
enlisting  outside  influences,  no  longer  a  hampering  un- 
certainty of  the  future.  President  James  wrote  in  1912 
that  * '  in  all  probability  the  funds  of  the  University  will 
be  considerably  increased."  In  1913  the  proceeds  of  the 
tax  were  sufficient  to  bring  the  biennial  income  to 
$5,623,000,  and  in  1915  to  the  round  sum  of  $6,200,000, 
though  even  this  is  insufficient  for  its  growth.  In  both 
these  years  the  Legislature  made  the  appropriations  with 
little  opposition.  Some  apprehension  was  felt  when  in 
1912  a  Democratic  victory  elected  Gov.  Edward  F. 
Dunne;  for  a  change  of  party  is  likely  to  bring  about 
certain  disturbing  innovations.  But  the  Governor 
proved  himself  a  firm  friend  of  the  institution.  In  1913 
weak  attempts  were  made  to  repeal  the  tax  law  or  reduce 
the  tax  rate,  and  to  impose  on  the  mill  tax  fund  the 
payment  of  interest  on  the  endowment,  and  the  addi- 
tional appropriations  for  the  "Water  Survey,  Geological 
Survey,  the  State  Entomologist's  Office,  and  the  State 
Laboratory  of  Natural  History,  but  they  proved  abortive. 
In  1915  an  effort  was  made  to  hold  in  the  treasury  some 
of  the  mill  tax  fund,  but  an  appeal  by  the  President  to 
the  alumni  and  others  brought  upon  its  instigators  such 
a  shower  of  protests  that  they  were  glad  to  give  it  over. 

Between  the  coming  of  Dr.  James  in  1904,  and  1916, 
the  number  of  buildings  at  Urbana  more  than  doubled, 
rising  from  twenty-four  to  sixty.  The  increase  was 
regular,  each  year  seeing  one  or  more  new  buildings, 


NEW  BUILDINGS  219 

until  between  1910-11  and  1911-12  there  was  a  sudden 
leap  from  thirty-six  to  forty-four.  In  the  early  years 
of  the  administration,  the  slowness  with  which  the  list 
of  structures  was  increased  was  a  cause  of  much  vexa- 
tion. Of  large  buildings,  only  the  Auditorium  was  ob- 
tained in  1905,  and  the  sum  set  aside  for  it  was  reduced 
in  legislative  committee  from  $150,000  to  $100,000.  It 
seemed  impossible  to  obtain  for  this  a  substantial  build- 
ing to  seat  2,500  people,  and  several  of  the  Trustees  were 
in  favor  of  holding  the  appropriation  and  asking  the 
next  Legislature  for  an  addition  to  it — asserting  that  the 
building  should  house  more  than  2,500,  anyway.  But  a 
commission  consisting  of  several  Trustees,  the  President, 
several  of  the  architectural  faculty,  and  two  alumni, 
Lorado  Taft  and  Clarence  H.  Blackall,  reported  in 
favor  of  proceeding,  and  the  plans  of  Mr.  Blackall  were 
later  accepted.  Something  monumental  was  desired: 
built  of  brick  and  stone,  the  structure  proved  so  staunch 
and  yet  beautiful  that  it  has  fully  answered  its  purpose. 
Unfortunately,  it  no  sooner  came  into  use  in  1908  than 
it  was  discovered  that  it  had  an  echo  like  the  baptistery 
of  Pisa,  and  to  correct  this  the  physics  faculty  spent 
years  of  intermittent  effort.  Meanwhile,  in  1907  the 
University  had  received  $250,000  for  the  Physics  Build- 
ing, and  $150,000  for  an  addition  to  the  Natural  History 
Building. 

The  choice  of  plans  for  these  latter  buildings,  and  all 
to  follow,  involved  some  difficulties,  for  in  1907  a  law 
became  effective  requiring  all  structures  built  by  State 
money  to  be  upon  designs  by  the  State  architect.  The 
University  had  little  relish  for  an  arrangement  by  which 
its  buildings  were  made  the  product  of  an  officer  of 
problematical  ability  at  Springfield.  It  suspected,  with 
reason,  that  the  State  architect  might  insist  upon  utility 


220    UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

and  economy  at  the  expense  of  beauty.  "With  such  at- 
tractive if  heterogeneous  buildings  upon  its  campus  as 
the  Library,  Agricultural  Building,  and  Auditorium,  all 
the  work  of  alumni,  it  preferred  to  make  its  own  slow 
progress  towards  a  distinctive  architecture.  But  it 
proved  impossible  to  escape  the  law  or  to  have  it  modi- 
fied, and  after  some  delay  the  Trustees  were  forced  to 
ask  State  Architect  Zimmerman  to  consult  with  the 
President  and  send  plans  as  soon  as  possible.  Happily 
for  the  University,  both  buildings  were  erected  only 
after  the  faculties  concerned  had  fully  expressed  their 
ideas ;  and  the  Physics  Building  in  particular  embodied 
an  expert  solicitude  for  solidity  and  the  best  use  of 
light.  As  it  neared  completion,  the  authorities  forced 
the  removal  of  the  trans-campus  line  of  the  local  street 
railway,  then  running  through  Green  Street,  the  vibra- 
tion from  which  would  have  affected  delicate  instru- 
ments, to  the  present  location  to  the  south. 

Nettled  by  the  tardiness  with  which  provision  was 
made  for  construction,  early  in  1909  the  Trustees 
adopted  a  report  setting  forth  the  urgent  need  for  no 
less  than  twelve  new  buildings,  totaling  $3,250,000. 
These  included  an  administration  building,  an  addition 
to  University  Hall,  an  armory,  an  addition  to  the  Li- 
brary, agricultural  buildings  reaching  an  aggregate  of 
$750,000,  a  building  for  music,  art,  and  architecture,  an 
enlargement  of  the  Engineering  Building,  a  museum, 
a  testing  laboratory,  a  transportation  building,  and 
housing  for  the  medical  college  to  cost  $500,000.  For 
the  time,  however,  only  four  main  structures  were 
requested — an  administration  building,  an  armory,  the 
addition  to  University  Hall,  and  the  addition  to  the 
Library — with  some  smaller  items  for  the  college  of 
agriculture.    Of  these  was  granted  only  the  new  Uni- 


NEW  BUILDINGS  221 

versity  Hall — "by  common  consent  the  most  necessary 
building  for  the  University,"  President  James  said. 
Cramped  as  the  zoological  and  botanical  departments 
had  been  in  the  old  Natural  History  Building,  cramped 
as  the  physics  department  had  been  in  Engineering  Hall, 
their  condition  had  never  been  so  bad  as  was  that  of  the 
literary  and  graduate  departments,  crowded,  with  the 
business  courses,  the  academy,  and  the  school  of  music, 
into  the  aging  University  Hall.  "With  the  quarter  mil- 
lion allowed,  the  University  and  the  State  architect 
determined  to  erect  a  stately  memorial  building  to  be 
known  as  Lincoln  Hall,  for  advanced  work  in  liberal 
arts  and  for  the  housing  of  the  seminar  libraries. 

Two  years  later,  however,  in  1911,  the  University 
received  money  for  the  construction  of  a  large  number 
of  buildings.  For  the  new  Armory  enough  was  appro- 
priated to  rear  the  largest  structure  of  its  kind  at  any 
college.  Its  huge  steel  spans  soon  after  began  to  go 
up  farther  south  than  any  large  University  building 
had  yet  been  placed.  The  military  department  pro- 
tested with  temporary  effectiveness  against  all  proposals 
for  its  use  as  a  combined  military  hall  and  gymnasium. 
To  the  school  of  commerce  was  given  a  sum  for  the 
first  unit  of  a  large  building.  Dean  Kinley  asked  for  a 
favorable  site,  asserting  his  conviction  that  the  growth 
of  the  school  would  soon  make  necessary  a  larger  struc- 
ture than  Lincoln  Hall,  and  that  plans  must  be  laid  for 
one  that  could  be  incorporated  into  a  comprehensive 
hall.  It  must  not  be  placed  too  far  from  the  Library, 
nor  yet  from  the  college  of  engineering,  300  of  whose 
students  it  trained  yearly  in  elementary  economics.  An 
addition  to  the  "Woman's  Building  was  authorized,  and 
plans  were  carried  out  by  the  State  architect,  despite 
all  protest,  which  ruined  the  appearance  of  the  older 


222    UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

portion,  though  the  space  was  more  than  doubled.  A 
three-story  Transportation  Building  was  begun,  a  loco- 
motive testing  laboratory  built,  a  dairy  barn  opened, 
and  the  Law  Building  ^  remodeled.  Finally,  over 
$20,000  was  given  for  a  kilnhouse  for  ceramics,  and  to 
this  having  been  added  a  sum  appropriated  the  mining 
engineering  department  for  equipment,  a  building  was 
erected  to  serve  the  two,  upon  lines  that  gave  it  also 
room  for  future  expansion. 

The  largest  additions  since  then  have  been  in  the 
completion  of  the  Chemistry  Building,  in  an  addition  to 
the  Commerce  Building  for  administrative  purposes,  in 
the  Education  Building,  in  the  Women's  Residence  Hall, 
and  in  a  large  Stock  Pavilion;  while  a  considerable 
amount  has  been  spent  upon  a  final  addition  to  the  Nat- 
ural History  Building  and  other  minor  erections.  The 
older  portion  of  the  Chemistry  Building  had  become 
intolerably  crowded:  the  demand  for  chemists  as  such 
was  always  growing,  while  at  the  same  time  the  agi'i- 
cultural  and  engineering  colleges  required  courses  in 
chemistry  of  large  elements  in  their  registration.  Com- 
pleted as  a  hollow  square,  the  structure  has  more  than 
doubled  its  former  space.  The  Administration  Build- 
ing greatly  relieved  the  Natural  History  Building, 
which  was  again  becoming  congested,  for  the  offices  of 
the  President,  registrar,  comptroller,  dean  of  men,  and 
others  were  removed  to  it.  The  Stock  Pavilion  is  used 
not  only  for  the  judging  of  stock,  but  for  large,  informal 
assemblies,  as  of  the  farmers  gathered  for  extension 
work.  The  Women's  Residence  Hall,  erected  at  one  of 
the  points  where  the  campus  extends  farthest  into  Ur- 
bana'  and  after  plans  which  make  it  architecturally 
harmonious  with  the  Woman's  Building,  will  house  about 

^  The  college  of  law  had  occupied  the  old  Chemistry  Laboratory. 


EXPANDING  REGISTRATION  223 

a  hundred  students.  In  erecting  the  Education  Building, 
the  University  has  drawn  plans  which  will  admit  of  the 
installation  of  a  training  and  experimental  high  school 
under  its  roof. 

Of  the  smaller  structures,  the  Genetics  Building  and 
Vivarium  have  been  of  a  benefit  beyond  their  size  to  the 
scientific  departments,  while  the  courses  in  ceramics 
now  have  a  $140,000  building  of  their  own — one  of  the 
most  ornate  on  the  campus,  and  indicative  of  the  oppor- 
tunity Illinois  craftsmen  have  in  her  clays.  The  Smith 
Memorial  Building,  the  first  to  represent  a  private  bene- 
faction, was  commenced  late  in  1916,  and  will  give  its 
first  real  home  to  the  school  of  music.  The  period 
has  been  marked  by  the  acquisition  of  considerable 
tracts  of  land,  about  $80,000  having  been  spent  for 
enlargement  of  the  campus  between  1905  and  1912,  and 
nearly  $250,000  for  that  of  the  campus  and  farm  since. 
Both  north  and  south  of  Springfield  Avenue,  Urbana, 
the  University  has  bought  lots  which  are  gradually 
giving  the  northern  part  of  the  campus  one  very  solid 
arm  of  a  cross  there.  On  the  opposite  side  the  corre- 
sponding arm  has  had  its  beginning  in  the  purchase  of 
over  half  a  block  south  of  Springfield  Avenue  in  Cham- 
paign. Land  values  are  inflated  and  growth  in  this 
district  is  by  a  slow  process  of  purchase,  but  a  way 
must  be  smoothed  for  expansion  of  the  engineering 
group.  The  southern  campus  has  been  filled  out,  land 
bought  for  athletic  purposes  adjoining  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral tracks,  and  the  farm  much  enlarged — there  now 
being  about  1,160  acres  in  all  at  Urbana. 

The  growth  of  the  University 's  gross  registration  quite 
kept  pace  during  the  President's  first  thirteen  years 
with  that  in  building  and  financial  resources.  During 
his  first  year  there  were  less  than  4,000  students — less, 


224    UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

indeed,  by  several  hundreds ;  five  years  later  there  were 
5,000 ;  seven  years  later  still  there  were  about  6,800,  and 
the  increase  promises  to  continue  at  ten  per  cent,  yearly. 
At  the  first  commencement  over  which  President  James 
presided  there  were  awarded  less  than  300  degrees,  and 
at  that  of  1916,  over  1,100.  By  colleges,  this  registra- 
tion showed  in  his  first  decade  engineering  consistently 
in  the  lead,  literature  and  arts  in  the  second  place,  and 
agriculture  in  third.  But  since  the  union  in  1913  of  the 
colleges  of  science  and  of  literature  and  arts,  the  regis- 
tration in  liberal  arts  has  easily  been  first.  Indeed,  abso- 
lutely as  well  as  comparatively,  the  college  of  engineer- 
ing has  temporarily  lost  ground.  In  1909-10  there  were 
over  1,300  students  in  it,  and  in  1913-14  not  many  more 
than  1,200.  In  the  latter  year  literature  and  arts  had 
1,854  students,  and  the  college  of  agriculture  1,171. 
Geographically,  the  students  now  represent  practically 
every  State  and  a  score  of  foreign  countries,  over  800 
coming  from  outside  Illinois. 

The  figures  for  registration,  however,  fail  adequately 
to  give  the  comparative  measure  of  college  development. 
It  was  the  college  of  agriculture  that  expanded  fastest 
and  most  powerfully,  that  impressed  itself  most  upon 
the  people  of  the  State,  and  that  assumed  in  many  ways 
the  real  primacy  at  the  University.  This  vigor  rose  in 
part  from  the  fact  that  it  had  so  much  growth  to  make : 
it  was  a  weak  college  when  Davenport  and  Burrill  under- 
took its  regeneration,  and  it  was  just  finding  its  feet 
when  the  administration  began.  Yet  in  competition 
with  vigorous  and  actively  growing  neighbors  it  took 
such  a  station  that  at  the  end  of  a  decade  the  President 
admitted,  in  tacit  reference  to  it,  that  "the  University 
of  Illinois  is  a  one-sided  institution.'^  No  other  ex- 
panded its  enrollment  at  the  steady  rate  of  a  twenty 


COLLEGE  OF  AGRICULTURE  225 

per  cent,  increase  per  year.  No  other  college  developed 
so  many  new  courses,  or  enlarged  old  ones  so  well.  No 
other  did  so  much  in  direct  service  to  the  people,  not 
merely  of  Illinois,  but  of  the  section.  None,  in  the 
review  of  ten  years'  work  in  1914,  could  make  quite  so 
impressive  a  showing  as  did  Prof.  J.  C.  Blair  for  it. 
"Ten  years  ago  there  were  registered  in  the  college  .  .  . 
339  students.  During  the  past  year  there  has  been  a 
total  enrollment  of  1,014  students.  Ten  years  ago  there 
were  a  faculty  .  .  .  numbering  27.  During  the  past 
year  we  have  had  a  faculty  numbering  136.  Ten  years 
ago  we  had  a  graduating  class  of  10  students.  The  past 
year  ...  we  have  conferred  143  degrees. ' '  In  the  ten 
years  the  total  expenditures  of  the  college  had  grown 
from  $150,000  to  three-quarters  of  a  million. 

So  great  was  this  growth  that  in  its  first  years  other 
universities  frequently  predicted  a  collapse  under  the 
strain.  Dean  Davenport  assigned  four  reasons  why  this 
did  not  occur.  First,  the  growth  was  the  result  of  a 
spontaneous  determination  by  the  farmers  to  make  it  a 
leading  agricultural  institution;  second,  special  funds 
were  appropriated  for  each  special  purpose,  and  back 
of  each  was  an  organized  group  of  agriculturists  inter- 
ested in  that  field ;  third,  the  college  was  organized  with 
few  departments,  each  with  its  own  funds  and  a  large 
measure  of  administrative  independence;  fourth,  it 
early  inspired  support  by  rendering  substantial  service 
to  State  agriculture.  The  system  of  carrying  out  ex- 
periments with  the  assistance  of  advisory  bodies  was  not 
only  retained,  but  enlarged.  In  1907  an  act  to  extend 
the  work  of  the  college  and  station  provided  that  not 
only  the  associations  previously  named,  but  ones  repre- 
senting commercial  floriculture,  should  appoint  such 
a  committee.    The  criticisms  and  suggestions  of  the  ad- 


226    UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

visors,  all  shrewd  men  and  some  scientifically  trained, 
directed  the  investigations  towards  the  objects  of 
greatest  importance,  and  kept  them  from  becoming 
academic.  The  plan  enhanced  the  prestige  of  the  Uni- 
versity, encouraged  those  with  agricultural  ambitions  to 
seek  it,  and  assisted  graduates  in  finding  positions. 
After  the  enactment  of  the  mill  tax  law  the  existence 
of  the  committees  was  legally  terminated,  but  in  1914 
their  continuance  was  provided  for  by  voluntary  action 
of  the  University.  It  was  really  a  sub-committee  of 
these  general  committees  which  in  1910  reported  that  the 
needs  of  the  college  were  so  urgent  that  its  position  "as 
a  school  of  the  first  rank  was  at  stake,"  and  forced  the 
passage  of  bills  appropriating  nearly  $1,000,000  for  it 
and  the  experiment  station.  It  was  also  in  part  owing 
to  this  system  that  even  when,  as  up  to  1910,  the  college 
was  receiving  much  less  than  other  leading  institutions, 
the  station  was  granted  from  two  to  five  times  as  much 
as  its  rivals. 

By  an  understanding  reached  when  the  bill  for  the 
division  of  the  agricultural  and  general  university  funds 
was  passed,  the  college  was  to  erect  at  least  one  perma- 
nent building  each  year  till  the  agricultural  interests 
were  fully  housed.  In  pursuance  of  this  there  went  up 
in  succession  the  Agronomy  and  Horticultural  Build- 
ings, the  Farm  Mechanics  Building,  the  Beef  Cattle  and 
Dairy  Buildings,  and  several  greenhouses — enough  to 
provide  for  its  growth  to  1912.  The  number  of  depart- 
ments remained  as  in  Draper's  time,  except  that  one 
quasi-department  has  recently  been  founded — that  of 
agricultural  extension,  with  work  in  non-technical  ex- 
tension touching  the  problems  of  country  life.  But  the 
scope  of  instruction  was  greatly  increased,  twenty-five 
courses    in   horticulture,    for    example,    growing    into 


EXPANSION  IN  ENGINEERING  227 

about  fifty,  and  eighteen  in  agronomy  into  thirty-one. 
Plans  for  expansion  received  only  one  sharp  set- 
back, when  in  1909  the  Legislature  refused  to  support 
proposals  for  the  opening  of  a  veterinary  college 
in  Chicago.  The  Live  Stock  Breeders'  Association 
and  Union  Stock  Yards  had  brought  up  the  ques- 
tion in  that  city,  and  a  suitable  site  was  offered  within 
the  yards,  together  with  $250,000  for  the  erection  and 
equipment  of  buildings,  provided  the  University  collect 
a  faculty  and  maintain  instruction.  President  James 
had  made  a  trip  to  Europe  to  inspect  veterinary  col- 
leges there,  but  since  the  Legislature's  refusal  the 
project  has  never  been  revived.  Since  1912  the  college 
has  been  greatly  hampered  by  lack  of  space;  it  has 
proved  necessary  to  utilize  every  square  foot,  to  make 
all  Junior  and  Senior  courses  elective,  so  as  not  to 
block  the  graduation  of  men  who  could  not  be  given 
laboratory  space  in  set  courses,  and  to  urge  individuals 
of  mediocre  academic  ability  not  to  remain  in  college 
after  one  year.  The  result  has  been  that  it  no  longer 
holds  place  as  first  in  enrollment  in  America,  and  is 
embarrassed  in  many  ways. 

The  college  of  engineering  lost  in  1905  the  leadership 
of  Prof.  Eicker,  its  head  for  a  quarter  century;  and 
at  the  same  time  was  perfected  the  organization  of 
the  engineering  experiment  station  as  a  separate  di- 
vision of  the  University,  under  Prof.  L.  P.  Breckin- 
ridge as  director.  For  two  years  Prof.  J.  M.  White 
took  the  place  of  Dr.  Ricker,  searching  meanwhile  for 
a  permanent  successor.  The  last  was  found  in  Dr. 
W.  F.  M.  Goss,  who  had  made  his  reputation  at  Purdue, 
and  who  began  his  duties  in  1907.  In  1909  Prof. 
Breekenridge  resigned,  and  the  dean  has  since  acted 
also  as  director  of  the  experiment  station.    But  these 


228    UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

changes  affected  little  the  even  development  of  the  col- 
lege, or  of  the  station,  which  has  become  one  of  the 
most  distinctive  parts  of  the  institution,  and  has  been 
imitated  all  over  the  country.  The  growth  of  this  col- 
lege has  been  in  many  ways  as  swift,  vigorous,  and  im- 
pressive as  that  of  the  college  of  agriculture. 

The  chief  outward  events  in  this  development  were 
the  establishment  of  the  department  of  railway  en- 
gineering in  1906;  the  reestablishment  of  mining  en- 
gineering in  1909;  and  the  beginning  of  the  Miners' 
and  Mechanics'  Institutes  and  the  Short  Course  in  high- 
way engineering  in  1913  and  1914  respectively.  The 
first  followed  upon  the  perception  by  President  James 
of  the  fact  that  the  University  had  a  number  of  courses 
in  engineering  and  business  bearing  upon  preparation 
for  railway  work,  and  that  it  would  be  easy  to  integrate 
them  into  a  school  of  railway  engineering  and  adminis- 
tration. Four  courses  were  established,  of  which  that 
of  railway  administration  is  in  the  college  of  commerce, 
and  those  of  railway  civil  engineering,  railway  me- 
chanical engineering,  and  railway  electrical  engineering 
are  in  engineering,  under  the  dean  and  Prof.  E.  C. 
Schmidt.  The  registration  has  been  disappointing,  but 
there  are  indications  that  it  will  grow.  The  department 
of  mining  engineering  grew  out  of  a  movement  inau- 
gurated at  a  Fuel  Conference  held  at  the  University  in 
1909 — a  meeting  called  in  pursuance  of  the  President's 
policy  of  enlisting  all  possible  interests  in  support  of  the 
institution.  A  committee  was  appointed,  representing 
mine  operators,  workers,  inspectors,  and  manufacturers, 
to  urge  an  appropriation  for  the  projected  department, 
and  it  was  granted.  Prof.  H.  H.  Stock,  who  was  ap- 
pointed its  head,  was  asked  to  spend  some  time  in  study- 
ing mining  conditions  in  Illinois  before  formulating  his 


ENGINEERING  EXPERIMENT  STATION    229 

courses.  Here,  too,  registration  has  been  disappointing, 
but  much  useful  work  is  being  done. 

Part  of  the  work  in  the  mining  engineering  depart- 
ment, all  that  of  the  engineering  experiment  station, 
and  the  highway  course  are  rated  as  extension  activi- 
ties. Even  preceding  the  Cherry  disaster,  a  mine  res- 
cue station  had  been  established  and  equipped  by  the 
Federal  Government  in  connection  with  the  first.  The 
short  course  in  highway  engineering,  often  held  at  the 
time  of  the  short  courses  in  agriculture  and  ceramics, 
was  evoked  by  the  demand  among  county  and  township 
officers  for  practical  information  upon  the  building  of 
roads  and  bridges.  The  work  of  the  regular  instructors 
is  supplemented  by  lectures  by  experts  in  highway  build- 
ing. As  for  the  experiment  station,  its  activities  have 
been  pushed  upon  the  lines  first  laid  down,  and  have 
fast  broadened.  It  had  little  more  than  a  paper  exist- 
ence till  in  1905  the  Legislature  repeated  the  appropria- 
tion of  $150,000  made  for  general  engineering  purposes 
two  years  before.  The  first  grant  had  been  absorbed  by 
the  demand  for  equipment ;  the  second  could  be  devoted 
largely  to  research.  In  imitation  of  the  advisory  bodies 
in  agriculture,  there  were  early  instituted  two  confer- 
ence committees  of  outside  authorities  in  technical 
fields:  one  on  tests  of  Illinois  coals,  and  one  on  electric 
traction  tests.  By  1915  no  less  than  seventy-six  bulle- 
tins had  been  published. 

The  faculty  of  the  college  of  engineering  more  than 
doubled  during  a  period  in  which  the  registration  in- 
creased one-third,  so  that  a  much  richer  course  of  study 
was  made  possible.  In  architecture  a  single  course  in 
architectural  engineering  grew  into  a  number  almost 
sufficient  to  justify  a  separate  department.  The  re- 
sponse of  the  University  to  the  advance  in  electrical 


230    UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

science  was  manifest  in  the  increase  from  thirty-five  to 
one  hundred  courses.  Thanks  to  the  provision  for  ten 
research  fellows  in  the  engineering  experiment  station, 
and  to  the  appointment  of  such  experts  as  Charles  R. 
Richards,  E,  J.  Berg,  and  F.  H.  Newell,  the  development 
of  graduate  work  has  been  especially  notable;  by  1912 
there  were  over  forty  graduate  students — and  in  engi- 
neering postgraduates  are  seldom  drifters.  Another 
notable  fact  is  the  greater  hospitality  of  each  depart- 
ment to  students  outside  it  who  wish  to  elect  of  its 
work.  Of  old,  civil  engineering,  for  example,  was 
largely  a  law  unto  itself.  Now  it  offers  highly  technical 
courses  to  architectural  engineers,  others  to  students  in 
geology,  others  to  landscape  architects,  and  others  to 
mining  engineering  students.  The  one  department  given 
a  large  building  for  its  exclusive  use,  that  of  physics, 
has  grown  with  especial  vigor.  Prof.  A.  P.  Carman, 
who  had  been  the  mainstay  of  this  branch  of  instruction 
since  1896,  had  in  1915  a  faculty  of  fourteen  working 
with  him.  Elsewhere  the  college  has  quite  outgrown  its 
facilities,  and  in  some  divisions,  as  architecture,  the 
demand  for  more  room  is  urgent. 

Even  before  the  completion  of  the  Natural  History 
Building,  the  administration  had  witnessed  some  ma- 
terial additions  to  the  resources  for  scientific  teaching. 
The  college  of  science  lost  its  dean  in  the  same  year 
that  Dean  Ricker  resigned,  for  Prof.  Forbes,  who  had 
been  granted  a  special  entomology  building,  wished  to 
devote  himself  almost  exclusively  to  his  work  for  the 
State.  His  place  was  taken  by  Prof.  Townsend.  Dur- 
ing the  same  year  the  State  Geological  Survey  was  insti- 
tuted, and  the  important  courses  in  ceramics,  which  at 
once  drew  students  from  the  four  corners  of  the  coun- 
try and  which  greatly  strengthened  the  work  in  chem- 


LITERATURE  AND  ARTS  231 

istry  and  geology,  were  first  opened.  In  1907  Prof.  A. 
V.  Bleininger  came  to  instruct  in  ceramics,  and  Prof. 
W.  A.  Noyes  left  the  Bureau  of  Standards  to  head  the 
chemistry  departments;  in  1908  Prof.  H.  B.  Ward  be- 
came head  of  the  zoology  department;  and  in  1913  "Will- 
iam Trelease  took  a  professorship  in  botany  beside 
Charles  F.  Hottes.  But  it  was  the  erection  of  the  huge 
additions  to  the  Natural  History  and  Chemistry  Build- 
ings which  permitted  the  college  to  expand  as  it  ought. 

In  literature  and  arts,  which  Dean  Evarts  B.  Greene 
ably  guided  for  seven  years  beginning  1906,  the  years 
following  1905-06,  when  the  Board  authorized  the  fill- 
ing of  three  important  new  professorships  in  modern 
languages,  English,  and  classics,  were  especially  notable 
in  linguistic  fields.  Instruction  in  all  the  modern  for- 
eign tongues  was  in  1906  combined  in  one  department, 
under  the  scholarly  Gustav  E.  Karsten,  and  after  his 
death  in  1908  the  departments  of  Germanic  and  Ro- 
mance languages  began  their  differentiated  develop- 
ment. Dr.  Julius  Goebel  at  once  took  charge  of  the 
former ;  the  latter,  after  obtaining  for  a  time  the  services 
of  Prof.  Raymond  Weeks,  was  handicapped  by  the  want 
of  a  head  till  the  appointment  of  Dr.  Kenneth  Mc- 
Kenzie  in  1915.  With  the  English  department,  under 
Dr.  Dodge,  had  been  united  that  of  rhetoric,  under  Dean 
Clark,  who  became  chairman  after  the  union.  It  was 
expanded  by  the  addition  of  subordinates,  and  given  a 
new  solidity  by  the  coming  in  1907  of  C.  N.  Greenough, 
who  temporarily  became  head,  Jacob  Zeitlin,  and  Stuart 
P.  Sherman.  One  distinctive  new  department  has  in  re- 
cent years  been  organized — that  of  Scandinavian  lan- 
guages, under  Prof.  G.  T.  Flom.  In  history  the  staff  was 
also  enlarged,  and  the  University  began  in  earnest  its 
researches  into  Western  records,  Dean  Greene  and  Prof. 


232     UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

C.  "W.  Alvord  taking  over  direction  of  the  State  His- 
torical Collections.  A  few  years  later  a  special  position 
was  created  with  a  view  to  the  encouragement  of  the  study 
of  Latin-American  history.  Education  profited  by  the 
fact  that  Illinois  grew  more  and  more  to  be  a  great  pro- 
ducing center  of  high  school  teachers,  and  to  carry  on 
much  quasi-extension  work  among  them.  The  chairman- 
ship of  the  department,  left  vacant  when  E.  G.  Dexter 
was  appointed  Commissioner  of  Education  in  Porto  Rico, 
was  filled  by  Prof.  W.  C.  Bagley,  while  at  the  same  time 
a  school  of  education  was  organized  to  embrace  all 
courses  of  pedagogical  value.  The  department  of  po- 
litical science,  to  which  Prof.  James  Garner  had  come 
in  1904,  and  which  Prof.  John  A.  Fairlie  joined  in 
1911,  began  midway  in  the  first  decade  of  the  adminis- 
tration to  make  use  of  the  opportunities  in  a  State  Uni- 
versity for  practical  research  and  to  attract  a  number 
of  graduate  students;  later  it  took  the  first  steps  in 
extension  work.  In  all  the  departments  of  this  college 
the  greatest  impetus  followed  the  completion  of  Lincoln 
Hall,  which  took  them  out  of  a  veritable  straitjacket. 

The  consolidation  of  the  two  colleges  was  dictated  by 
the  plain  consideration  that  they  were  seriously  dupli- 
cating each  other's  work.  At  the  same  time,  each  was 
expanding  the  privileges  of  election  from  the  cur- 
riculum of  the  other,  and  this  liberal  treatment  of  elec- 
tives  demanded  a  single  administration.  The  faculty 
in  literature  and  arts  approved  of  the  alliance  long 
before  that  in  science  would  consent  to  the  step,  but  it 
was  finally  effected ;  and  in  the  spring  of  1913  Kendric 
C.  Babcock,  a  former  president  of  the  University  of 
Arizona,  became  head  of  the  college  of  liberal  arts  and 
sciences.  A  marked  increase  in  efficiency  was  soon 
manifest.    This  union  of  two  of  the  most  important  Uni- 


GRADUATE  WORK  233 

versity  divisions  was  somewhat  offset  when  four  years 
later  the  courses  in  business  administration  were  eon- 
verted  into  the  college  of  commerce  and  business  ad- 
ministration, with  N.  A,  Weston  as  acting  dean.  The 
skeleton  courses  in  banking,  insurance,  journalism, 
and  so  on  instituted  under  Draper  had  been  filled 
out  early  in  the  administration  under  the  direction 
of  Dr.  Kinley.  The  faculty  had  been  increased,  Prof. 
Maurice  Robinson  having  come  in  1901,  Prof.  E.  R. 
Dewsnup  in  1907,  and  Prof.  E.  L.  Bogart  in  1909; 
a  separate  building  had  been  provided,  and  a  genuine 
college  spirit  grown  up  in  it;  and  the  registration  had 
by  1917  exceeded  700.  The  courses  constituted  one  of 
the  most  progressive  divisions  of  the  institution,  and 
one  which  most  enlisted  the  interest  of  the  State;  but 
the  creation  of  the  college  represented  a  sense  rather 
of  the  promise  of  the  future  than  of  completed  achieve- 
ment. In  his  long  work  for  this  division  of  the  Uni- 
versity Dean  Kinley  built  up  a  high  regard  for  himself 
and  the  institution  among  business  men  of  the  State, 
and  one  very  valuable  to  the  University  in  every  way. 
The  graduate  school  grew  up  with  the  various  col- 
leges, and  especially  with  literature  and  arts  and  science. 
But  it  had  also  an  administrative  history  of  its  o\vn. 
Its  financial  basis  was  independent,  and  the  President 
saw  that  the  Legislature's  support  was  generous.  In 
1907  a  grant  of  $100,000  for  the  biennium  was  made 
for  the  school — the  first  legislative  grant  specifically 
for  graduate  work  in  America — and  this,  which  assured 
its  vitality,  was  duplicated  in  1909.  Dr.  Burrill  re- 
signed as  dean  in  1905,  and  was  succeeded  by  Dr.  Kin- 
ley, while  a  special  faculty  was  constituted  to  take 
charge  of  its  policy  and  curriculum.  A  part  of  the 
appropriations,  and  of  the  larger  grants  made  later 


234    UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

from  the  mill  tax,  was  set  aside  for  fellowships  and  schol- 
arships, and  the  remainder  for  research  and  the  school's 
publications.  The  chief  of  these  were  the  University- 
Studies,  which  had  been  commenced  under  Draper, 
and  the  Journal  of  English  and  Germanic  Philology, 
founded  by  Dr.  Karsten  and  taken  over  at  his  death 
under  the  joint  editorship  of  the  two  departments.  The 
latter  was  a  creditable  if  highly  specialized  periodical, 
and  the  Studies,  which  were  used  by  the  faculty  as  well 
as  graduate  students  for  publication,  were  well  edited. 
Money  was  also  spent  for  the  Illinois  Historical  Survey. 

Strong  efforts  were  made  to  bring  the  school  up  to 
Eastern  standards,  and  the  University  quickly  began  to 
succeed.  No  one  was  allowed  to  offer  graduate  work 
who  had  not  fully  demonstrated  his  ability  in  research ; 
candidates  for  the  doctorate  were  required  to  print  their 
theses;  and  strict  methods  of  examination  were  devised, 
with  interdepartmental  representation  at  each  oral 
hearing.  The  challenging  of  candidates  in  the  German 
department  by  members  of  the  English  faculty  at  one 
time  bred  bad  feeling.  From  the  outset  candidates  for 
masters'  degrees  had  to  offer  theses.  The  school  at  first 
had  many  students  in  absentia,  but  their  numbers  were 
reduced.  Then  came  the  transfer  of  advanced  work  in 
liberal  arts  to  Lincoln  Hall,  with  its  admirable  seminars, 
and  the  consequent  energizing  of  scholarly  work;  by 
1915-16  there  were  nearly  550  students  enrolled.  It  is 
again  to  Dean  Kinley's  enterprise  as  regards  elements 
of  growth  and  expansion,  and  his  conservatism  in  all 
that  touches  the  standards  of  the  school,  that  graduate 
work  owes  most. 

The  long  neglect  the  library  had  suffered  furnished 
one  of  the  chief  difficulties  against  which  advanced  work 
had    to    struggle.     The    University    labored    hard    to 


THE  LIBRARY  235 

awaken  the  Legislature  to  its  needs  in  books,  and  ob- 
tained annual  grants  of  $25,000,  later  increased  to 
$50,000 — the  latter  nearly  as  large  a  sum  as  any  other 
institution  in  America  was  spending,  and  sufficient  to 
disturb  some  book  prices.  Such  steady  progress  was 
made  that  whereas  when  Dr.  James  had  come  the  library 
held  but  about  75,000  volumes,  by  the  end  of  1916  there 
were  nearly  400,000  bound  volumes  and  100,000  pam- 
phlets. Officers  argued  to  the  Legislature  that  the  remote 
situation  of  Illinois  made  special  provision  necessary, 
and  the  President  once  compiled  figures  to  show  that  the 
University  lagged  behind  Wisconsin,  California,  and  Le- 
land  Stanford.  In  spite  of  a  legislative  blindness  that 
was  once  about  to  halve  the  appropriation  because  of  a 
shortage  of  shelving,  Illinois  has  come  to  possess  one  of 
the  twelve  largest  University  libraries  in  the  country, 
and  one  of  the  two  or  three  fastest  growing.  In  1907 
the  first  important  item  in  a  series  of  special  foreign 
acquisitions,  the  Dittenberger  library  of  the  classics, 
was  purchased.  Two  years  later  P.  L.  Windsor  was  ap- 
pointed librarian  and  director  of  the  library  school. 

A  few  words  suffice  for  the  history  of  the  professional 
schools  at  Urbana  during  this  period.  The  college  of 
law  increased  slowly  in  registration,  though  its  reputa- 
tion by  no  means  came  to  equal  that  of  the  schools  of 
Chicago  or  Northwestern  University.  A  long  period 
of  legislative  disfavor  was  ended  when  in  1909  a  grant 
was  made  for  a  law  library,  and  the  future  was  there- 
after thought  secure.  In  1907  the  entrance  requirements 
had  been  fixed  at  one  full  year  of  University  work,  and 
in  1915  they  were  made  two;  while  Dean  Harker  la- 
bored till  his  resignation  in  1916  to  make  the  instruction 
by  the  small  faculty  thorough.  The  standards  have 
hence  been  honorably  high.     The  State  library  school 


236     UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

has  grown  to  a  total  of  fifty  students,  nearly  all  women 
— a  good  registration  when  it  is  considered  that  there 
are  now  nine  or  ten  such  schools  in  the  country.  In 
1911  the  entrance  requirements  were  made  four  years 
of  college  work,  thus  placing  the  school  on  a  graduate 
basis,  and  much  strengthening  its  work.  The  school 
of  music  has  needed  strengthening  and  has  received  it. 
A  score  of  courses  have  grown  to  three  score,  instruction 
is  given  on  additional  instruments,  and  a  one-year 
course  in  public  school  music,  leading  to  a  teacher's 
certificate,  has  been  initiated.  Director  John  Lawrence 
Erb  has  a  faculty  of  about  twelve.  But  the  school  looks 
forward  to  its  release  from  University  Hall  to  afford  it 
its  proper  position.  As  for  household  science,  Miss 
Bevier's  work  is  half  again  as  broad  as  it  was,  and 
the  greater  space  in  the  enlarged  "Woman's  Building 
has  enabled  her  to  build  up  the  largest  department  of 
the  kind  in  any  State  institution.  There  are  still  two 
classes  of  students — those  in  household  science  proper, 
and  those  in  liberal  arts  who  make  a  "major"  of  the 
subject.  Its  scientific  requirements  in  chemistry  render 
it  difficult. 

By  far  the  darkest  page  in  the  history  of  the  colleges 
relates  to  the  Chicago  departments.  President  James 
entered  office  with  no  illusions  as  to  the  possibility  of 
"making  medical  teaching  pay,"  and  the  Trustees  had 
largely  lost  their  early  belief  in  it.  Yet  the  University 
not  only  reaped  in  full  the  fruit  of  its  early  errors,  but 
it  was  prevented  from  exercising  a  new  and  better  con- 
trol as  soon  as  it  might,  and  after  a  temporary  sur- 
render of  its  medical  work  had  to  make  a  new  begin- 
ning at  great  expense.  At  first  all  concerned  enter- 
tained hopes  of  persuading  the  Legislature  to  purchase 
the  property  of  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons, 


MEDICAL  EDUCATION  237 

and  incorporate  it  as  an  integral  part  of  the  University. 
Dean  Quine  offered  the  University  his  library  if  this 
were  done  promptly,  and  others  promised  gifts  of  stock. 
In  1907  an  appropriation  of  $386,000  actually  passed 
the  Legislature,  but  was  vetoed  by  the  Governor.  Hope 
for  State  action  gradually  glimmered,  and  meanwhile 
the  institution  affiliated  with  the  University  was  losing 
ground  as  against  endowed  colleges. 

The  storm  broke  fiercely  in  1910.  The  Trustees  and 
President  had  done  what  they  could  to  better  the 
standards  of  the  college,  as  by  an  arrangement  for  en- 
couraging students  in  the  six  years'  course.  But  under 
the  agreement  which  reserved  to  the  faculty  of  the  col- 
lege all  initiative  in  its  management  this  was  little.  The 
faculty,  moreover,  showed  an  increasing  representation 
of  stockholders,  or  of  those  who  controlled  the  hospital 
facilities  it  used.  Finally,  early  in  1910  the  national 
Council  on  Medical  Education  served  notice  that  it  was 
preparing  a  report  on  the  acceptable  medical  colleges  of 
the  country,  and  would  not  include  the  University's  in 
its  list.  It  had  found  three  main  defects:  the  non- 
enforcement  of  the  entrance  requirements,  the  fact  that 
advanced  standing  was  granted  for  work  done  in  low- 
grade  medical  schools,  and  the  fact  that  six  faculty 
members  were  also  on  the  faculty  of  a  night  school  of 
medicine  described  as  one  of  the  weakest  and  worst- 
equipped  in  America.  At  the  same  time  the  Carnegie 
Foundation  stated  that  its  examination  of  the  depart- 
ment— prompted  by  the  University's  application  for  the 
benefits  of  its  retiring  allowances — had  confinned  its 
suspicions;  and  its  head  wrote  that  "as  the  situation 
now  stands  it  seems  to  me  that  the  University  is  injuring 
medical  education,  not  helping  it."  A  little  later  the 
University  had  notice  from  the  Association  of  American 


238    UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

Medical  Colleges  that  the  department  did  not  fulfill  the 
requirements  it  had  set  as  a  minimum,  with  an  inquiry 
as  to  when  it  would  begin  enforcing  proper  standards 
of  admission.  Only  a  high  school  diploma  was  required, 
whereas  the  medical  schools  of  the  Universities  of  Michi- 
gan, Wisconsin,  and  Minnesota  demanded  two  years  of 
college  work. 

The  University  at  once  increased  its  pressure  on  the 
college  for  a  betterment,  and  enforced  rulings  that  no 
credits  would  be  received  from  colleges  of  inferior 
standing  and  that  no  faculty  member  would  be  per- 
mitted a  connection  with  any  other  institution.  Equip- 
ment also  was  to  be  increased.  But  the  Dean  was  cer- 
tain that  with  these  steps  the  college  would  cease  "to  be 
self-supporting  .  .  .  and  that  it  will  never  be  self-sup- 
porting again.  In  my  opinion  the  college  cannot  furnish 
better  teachers  and  more  of  them  and  more  equipment 
out  of  its  earnings.  It  has  already  gone  beyond  its 
powers  in  satisfying  the  demands  of  the  University." 
In  1910  the  old  agreement  had  to  be  abrogated,  and  a 
new  one  executed,  largely  on  lines  suggested  by  Gov. 
Deneen.  The  University  took  absolute  control  of  the 
medical  college,  the  lease  was  reduced  to  one  year,  and 
the  University  was  authorized  to  buy  the  plant  upon 
consent  of  the  Legislature.  The  next  autumn  the 
Trustees,  to  whom  President  James  had  presented  a  mass 
of  material  on  the  development  of  medical  education, 
asked  for  a  sum  for  the  maintenance  of  the  college. 
The  Legislature  duly  appropriated  $60,000,  and  then 
an  unforeseen  disaster  occurred.  The  State  Home- 
opathic Medical  Association,  angered  that  the  allopathic 
method  should  be  thus  recognized,  applied  for  an  in- 
junction to  prevent  the  payment  of  the  funds.  Its 
ground,   that   amendments  to   the   bill  had   not  been 


MEDICAL  EDUCATION  239 

printed  before  final  passage,  as  required  by  the  Consti- 
tution, proved  valid,  and  the  appropriation  was  lost. 
The  college  had  to  be  closed  that  summer. 

This  action  was  a  great  shock  to  the  alumni  of  the 
college,  and  to  all  in  the  State  interested  in  the  ad- 
vancement of  public  health.  The  State  Medical  Asso- 
ciation appointed  a  member  from  every  county  to  urge 
upon  the  Legislature  and  the  University  *'the  necessity 
for  making  adequate  provision  for  this  great  public 
need."  President  James  was  in  favor  of  founding  a 
new  medical  school  at  Urbana,  where  one  in  time  would 
doubtless  have  succeeded.  But  the  college  alumni  took 
a  decisive  step  in  asking  the  Trustees  if  they  would 
reopen  the  school  provided  the  ownership  of  the  stock 
was  transferred  to  them.  They  having  consented,  early 
in  1913  the  entire  transfer  was  made :  part  of  the  stock 
was  donated,  and  part  had  been  purchased  by  funds 
raised  among  friends  of  State  medical  education.  In 
March  the  University  triumphantly  took  over  the  in- 
struction in  the  old  plant,  and  felt  that  all  it  had  suf- 
fered was  not  in  vain.  The  mill  tax  law  had  mean- 
while made  support  of  the  college  easy.  The  University 
has  since  followed  a  vigorous  policy  of  expansion  and 
development;  the  entrance  requirements  were  promptly 
raised  (1914)  to  two  years  of  college  work,  and  equip- 
ment increased.  The  college  has  been  approved  by  each 
of  the  three  bodies  that  once  condemned  it,  and  it  is 
one  token  of  its  healthfulness  that  the  registration  prom- 
ises soon  to  reach  the  figure  of  the  days  before  the 
entrance  requirements  were  changed. 

The  college  of  dentistry  was  closed  at  the  same  time 
as  the  college  of  medicine,  and  reopened  a  few  months 
after  the  latter.  Its  record  otherwise  has  been  un- 
eventful, except  that  in  1906-07  it  experienced  a  sudden 


240     UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

and  temporary  decline  in  registration  when  its  admis- 
sion requirements  were  raised  to  full  high  school 
preparation.  The  school  of  pharmacy  felt  the  same 
temporary  drop  at  the  same  time,  full  high  school  work 
being  required  of  candidates  for  the  principal  degree. 

Repeatedly  President  James  has  emphasized  'top- 
ping off  at  the  bottom"  as  concomitant  to  the  process 
of  building  up  at  the  top ;  and  an  outstanding  event 
in  the  former  program  was  the  abolition  of  the  acad- 
emy. Since  Draper's  reorganization,  this  badly-housed, 
cheaply  administered  division  had  been  prosperous,  with 
over  a  dozen  instructors  and  three  years  of  work.  But 
in  1909  the  Carnegie  Foundation  questioned  its  right 
to  existence,  stating  its  doubt  that  the  intermingling 
of  secondary  and  college  students  and  work  was  whole- 
some for  University,  high  schools,  or  undergraduates. 
In  1910  the  Senate  recommended  that  the  academy  be 
discontinued  in  favor  of  a  training  and  experimental 
high  school,  and  upon  the  first  part  of  this  recom- 
mendation the  Trustees  acted,  the  academy  finally 
yielding  up  its  basement  rooms  to  better  purposes  the 
fall  of  1911. 

The  growth  of  the  faculty,  the  expansion  of  re- 
sources, have  made  necessary  constant  if  minor  changes 
in  University  policy.  One  important  way  in  which  the 
new  administration  effected  an  improvement  was  in  the 
steady  elevation  of  salaries.  A  year  after  it  began  a 
committee  of  the  Trustees  reported  that  it  had  found 
the  salaries  not  only  too  low,  but  full  of  incongruities. 
A  study  had  been  made  of  the  changes  within  the  dec- 
ade in  the  rewards  of  men  who  had  been  with  the 
University  throughout  that  time.  It  was  found  that 
the  average  elevation  in  pay  had  been  from  $600  to  $750, 


KULES  GOVERNING  FACULTY     241 

but  that  one  man  had  had  no  increase  at  all  and  others 
almost  none,  while  two  had  had  $1,500  and  $1,680  re- 
spectively. The  President  compiled  statistics  to  show 
that  salaries  were  much  higher  in  the  East,  and  that 
there  were  a  hundred  positions  at  $4,000  or  more  at 
Harvard,  while  there  were  less  than  a  dozen  at  Illinois. 
The  Legislature's  striking  resolution  of  1909  stating 
that  ''it  is  the  evident  will  of  the  people  of  this  com- 
monwealth that  the  University  of  Illinois  shall  be  so 
complete  in  its  organization  and  equipment  that  no 
son  or  daughter  shall  be*  obliged  to  seek  in  other  States 
or  countries  .  .  .  advantages  of  higher  education" 
concluded  by  urging  upon  the  Trustees  a  policy  that 
would  attract  and  retain  the  best  ability  available. 
This  action  and  the  mill  tax  act  have  made  possible  a 
salutary  change,  so  that  there  are  now  over  thirty 
officers  paid  $5,000  a  year  or  more. 

Under  Dr.  James  was  first  enforced  the  tacit  rule 
that,  outside  agriculture  and  engineering,  no  man  with- 
out a  doctorate  might,  except  under  exceptional  cir- 
cumstances, rise  even  to  the  rank  of  instructor.  As 
first  applied,  it  was  necessary  to  the  fixing  of  University 
standards,  but  as  with  all  comprehensive  rules,  there 
were  cases  in  which  it  worked  grievous  injustice  to  able 
and  earnest  men,  and  the  opinion  has  gained  ground 
that  it  should  be  administered  with  flexibility.  The 
President,  too,  long  stood  immovably  beside  a  rule 
against  nepotism  that  has  only  recently  been  modified 
by  action  of  the  Trustees.  In  1898  the  Board  expressed 
its  disapproval  of  the  appointment  of  anyone  related  to 
a  teacher  or  officer  already  connected  with  the  Uni- 
versity, and  this  was  reaffirmed  ten  years  later.  In 
1910  even  stronger  resolutions  were  adopted,  and  in 
1913,  after  fresh  discussion,  the  Board  resolved  that 


242     UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

only  one  member  of  a  family  should  be  represented  on 
the  University  staff,  and  that  this  rule  should  be  ap- 
plied in  making  reappointments.  But  inadvertent  vio- 
lations occasionally  caused  trouble,  while  in  the  closely- 
knit  faculty  community,  with  its  young  men  frequently 
marrying  the  daughters  of  older  members,  it  repeatedly 
forbade  the  retention  of  valued  newcomers.  A  few 
months  after  the  passage  of  this  drastic  resolution, 
therefore,  "the  portion  of  the  rule  referring  to  relatives" 
was  repealed,  and  a  simple  statement  of  intention  to  keep 
appointments  on  the  merit  basis  retained. 

Shortly  after  the  opening  of  the  administration  tui- 
tion fees  were  temporarily  reduced  to  $10  per  semester, 
but  since  their  restoration  to  $12  they  have  never  been 
altered.  In  1908  the  Trustees  revised  the  University 
statutes,  and  besides  making  them  more  definite,  as- 
signed the  duties  previously  performed  by  the  business 
manager  to  three  men:  the  comptroller,  the  chief  clerk, 
and  the  purchasing  agent.  It  should  also  be  mentioned 
that  the  University's  attempt  to  find  a  place  on  the 
Carnegie  Foundation  failed  that  year,  not  only  because 
the  Foundation  objected  to  the  academy  and  the  weak 
medical  school,  but  because  it  still  felt  uncertain  of  the 
proper  status  of  agricultural  education.  Later,  upon 
the  retirement  of  W.  L.  Pillsbury,  the  registrar,  in 
1910,  and  of  Professors  Burrill  and  Shattuck  in  1912, 
the  Foundation  granted  them  pensions;  but  the  Uni- 
versity has  virtually  determined  to  institute  its  own 
pension  system.  Finally,  there  is  to  be  mentioned  the 
fact  that  the  University  has  been  given  powers  in  the 
condemnation  of  land  which  are  important  to  its 
campus  development;  and  that  in  1911  all  permanent 
University  employees,  outside  the  instructional  and 
scientific  staffs,  were  unfortunately  brought  under  the 


AGRICULTURE  AND  THE  STATE  243 

civil  service  code  and  made  removable  only  after  a 
hearing  by  the  State  Civil  Service  Commission. 

Only  a  few  dissensions  of  even  passing  interest  have 
marked  recent  University  history.  Early  in  this  period 
a  certain  professor  of  physiology  felt  that  the  ad- 
ministration had  not  sufficiently  recognized  his  work 
by  increasing  his  salary  and  departmental  funds;  and 
while  the  Trustees  were  determining  upon  a  rejection 
of  his  complaints,  which  they  afterwards  duly  em- 
bodied in  a  resolution,  he  angrily  resigned.  He 
later  published  several  long  accusations  that  the  Presi- 
dent was  governing  the  faculty  autocratically,  which 
were  contradicted  by  statements  of  the  faculty  and 
Trustees.  A  few  years  later  the  refusal  of  President  and 
Board  to  reappoint  another  faculty  member  for  reasons 
affecting  his  personal  character  gave  to  a  troublesome 
Trustee  an  apparent  opening  for  similar  charges  against 
the  administration;  these  the  faculty  in  mass  meeting 
unanimously  and  emphatically  contradicted.  The  so- 
called  phosphate  stock  affair  early  showed  the  anxiety 
of  the  University  to  act  in  matters  affecting  the  State 
with  a  rectitude  defying  question.  About  1904  Prof. 
Hopkins,  eager  to  guarantee  to  the  State  a  full  supply 
of  phosphate  fertilizer,  of  which  he  feared  an  imminent 
shortage,  had  learned  of  the  existence  of  a  huge  tract 
of  phosphate  mineral  deposits  in  western  Tennessee, 
about  200  miles  from  Cairo,  which  could  possibly  be 
obtained  for  Illinois  farmers.  A  million  dollar  corpora- 
tion was  being  formed  for  the  shipment  of  phosphate 
from  this  area,  and  Dr.  Hopkins  not  only  urged  Il- 
linois capital  to  obtain  control  of  it,  but  to  encourage 
investment  he  himself  bought  bonds.  Dean  Davenport 
and  others  who  shared  the  responsibility  for  the  inves- 
tigation of  Illinois  soils  also  bought  interests  with  the 


244    UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

same  purpose.  This  was  a  full  two  years  after  the 
experiment  station  had  begun  preaching  the  necessity 
of  adding  phosphates  to  the  grain- worn  soil  of  Illinois; 
but  there  was  nevertheless  a  danger  of  misconstruction 
of  the  faculty's  motives  in  continuing  to  urge  the  buy- 
ing of  the  fertilizer.  After  discussing  the  matter  with 
President  and  Trustees,  the  men  involved  severed  their 
connection  with  the  company. 

If  the  University  had  insisted  with  scant  notice  thirty 
years  ago  that  it  was  "the  State  University,"  if  under 
Draper  it  had  made  a  sturdy  attempt  to  realize  this 
assertion,  in  the  last  decade  it  has  taken  its  place  with 
entire  self-confidence  as  a  great  agency  in  State  life. 
The  full  scope  of  its  extension  activities  will  be  no- 
ticed later.  But  the  chief  events  in  its  progress  in 
State  service  are  to  be  recorded  here.  The  agricultural 
departments  have  led  the  way.  In  1907  the  experiment 
station  completed  its  first  general  survey  of  Illinois 
soils,  and  published  the  results.  Detailed  soil  study  was 
then  undertaken,  and  has  now  covered  half  the  counties 
of  the  State ;  and  the  acquisition  of  experimental  plots 
all  over  the  State,  which  had  begun  under  Draper,  went 
on  rapidly.  Three  years  later  the  college  of  agriculture 
began  to  give  instruction  at  a  boys'  agricultural  school 
conducted  by  the  State  Superintendent  of  Public  In- 
struction at  the  State  Fair  at  Springfield  each  autumn, 
over  200  registrants  being  admitted  according  to  county 
allotment.  The  Farmer's  Hall  of  Fame,  instituted  with 
the  annual  hanging  of  portraits  of  figures  prominent  in 
the  State's  agricultural  history  in  the  Auditorium  by 
an  agricultural  committee,  had  then  just  been  opened. 
At  about  the  same  time  the  University  began  holding 
agricultural  extension  schools  in  different  localities, 
there  being  forty  of  from  one  to  six  weeks*  duration 


THE  COMMUNITY  ADVISOR  245 

in  1915.  Lecture  trains  carrying  demonstration  ma- 
terial have  by  courtesy  of  the  railways  traversed  much 
of  the  State.  The  bulletins  of  the  experiment  station 
vi^ere  supplemented  about  1910  by  a  University  press 
service,  which  began  the  distribution  of  many  columns 
of  agricultural  matter  weekly  to  press  syndicates  and 
to  agricultural  papers.  In  1914  the  college,  in  con- 
Junction  with  the  courses  in  business,  supplied  to  the 
State  the  services  of  Dr.  R.  E.  Hieronymus  as  com- 
munity advisor,  his  function  being  to  make  a  study  of 
various  localities,  assisting  in  the  solution  of  their  busi- 
ness and  socal  problems,  to  try  to  create  a  better  re- 
lationship between  town  and  country,  and  to  bring 
business  interests  in  the  cities  into  closer  touch  with 
the  University.  "When  it  is  remembered  that  in  1913 
the  college  reported  that  its  representatives  had  de- 
livered at  least  a  thousand  lectures  at  six  hundred 
Farmers'  Institutes  and  other  gatherings,  and  that  the 
station  bulletins  reached  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
readers,  it  is  evident  that  the  agricultural  departments 
reach  the  life  of  every  rural  community. 

In  its  new  Woman's  Building  the  household  science 
department  has  been  able  to  do  much  on  similar  lines. 
It  early  began  to  send  about  over  the  State  movable 
schools  of  one  and  two  instructors  in  household  arts — 
eighteen  in  1908.  In  1909  began  the  annual  sessions 
of  the  school  for  housekeepers,  held  at  the  same  time 
as  the  other  short  courses.  At  the  same  time  the  de- 
partment developed  a  considerable  usefulness  in  answer- 
ing inquiries  on  food  preparation,  the  care  of  children, 
and  so  on.  Five  years  later  the  college  and  the  do- 
mestic science  department  began  together  to  assist  in 
directing  the  extension  activities  made  possible  by  the 
Smith-Lever  act  of  Congress. 


246    UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

Practically  all  the  extension  work  in  engineering 
dates  from  the  second  year  of  the  administration,  when 
the  experiment  station  was  reorganized  and  received  its 
first  direct  grant  of  $10,000.  In  1910  the  college  adver- 
tised its  acquisition  of  a  drop  testing  machine  and  brake 
shoe  testing  machine  for  free  use  by  the  railways.  A 
year  later  liberal  provision  was  made  for  the  Miners' 
and  Mechanics'  Institutes,  to  promote  the  technical  ef- 
ficiency of  mine  managers  and  workers  by  bulletins,  lec- 
tures, correspondence  work,  and  extension  classes.  But 
in  this  college  extension  work  has  never  been  prominent. 
In  science  the  State  Geological  Survey  was  authorized 
by  the  Legislature  the  same  year  that  Dr.  James  came, 
under  a  director  who  had  made  a  specialty  of  economic 
geology,  and  who,  in  cooperation  with  the  chemistry 
and  ceramics  faculties,  soon  after  began  to  study  the 
value  of  Illinois  clays  for  bricks,  tile,  and  pottery.  The 
usefulness  of  the  Water  Survey  was  greatly  extended 
by  the  passage  of  a  bill  authorizing  the  appointment  of 
field  agents  to  visit  watersheds  and  municipal  reser- 
voirs. As  for  the  college  of  liberal  arts,  the  economics, 
history,  and  political  science  faculties  have  all  found 
means  of  serving  the  State,  while  in  1915  the  courses 
in  business  offered  a  short  session  **  designed  to  meet 
the  needs  of  both  employer  and  employee,"  with  in- 
struction in  a  dozen  business  fields.  The  education  de- 
partment now  has  two  officers  inspecting  high  schools, 
of  which  not  far  from  500  have  been  fully  or  partially 
accredited,  and  in  other  ways  is  directly  serving  the 
people. 

The  summer  school  may  be  regarded  as  virtually  an 
extension  department,  for  the  majority  who  attend  are 
high  school  teachers.  Dean  Clark,  the  director,  re- 
ported in  1906  that  more  than  three-fourths  the  regis- 


ALUMNI  INTEREST  247 

trants  had  at  some  time  taught.  By  that  year  over 
500  had  entered,  and  there  was  no  longer  any  doubt  of 
the  sound  policy  of  offering  vacation  instruction.  Free 
scholarships  were  thereafter  given  all  public  school 
teachers  of  the  State  who  could  qualify — a  step  at  once 
rewarded  by  the  attendance  of  a  considerable  group 
from  Chicago.  The  sessions  developed  slowly.  After  Prof. 
W.  C.  Bagley  became  director  in  1910,  the  increase  in 
the  number  of  graduate  students  was  the  most  notable 
fact ;  for  he  urged  high  school  teachers  to  strive  towards 
a  master's  degree — which  they  could  earn  in  four  ses- 
sions— in  the  departments  related  to  pedagogy.  There 
came  also  to  be  a  notable  degree  of  student  life  at  these 
sessions.  By  1911  we  find  the  fourth  volume  of  a  tri- 
weekly Summer  lUini  published;  and  we  find  recorded 
in  its  pages  the  activities  of  summer  dancing  clubs,  a 
dramatic  club,  a  literary  society,  a  chorus,  with  regular 
"sings,"  and  a  baseball  team  which  engaged  neighbor- 
ing towns.  The  faculty  did  their  best  to  make  the  hot 
and  lonely  lot  of  the  students  enjoyable,  and  in  addition 
to  lectures  there  was  a  series  of  receptions.  The  regis- 
tration had  by  1914  approached  1,000,  and  by  1916  ex- 
ceeded 1,100. 

Indirectly  connected  with  the  greater  prestige  of  the 
University  and  f uUer  State  recognition  was  the  growth 
of  its  alumni  activities.  The  outstanding  factor  in 
stimulating  this  growth  was  the  founding  in  1907  of  the 
Alumni  Quarterly,  under  the  editorship  of  Frank  W. 
Scott  of  the  English  department.  At  this  time  there  were 
but  fourteen  alumni  associations,  of  which  some  were 
apparently  dead  and  none  with  much  vitality.  By  1911 
there  were  thirty,  all  vigorously  alive,  and  each  of  the 
three  or  four  largest  with  more  strength  than  the  whole 
had  possessed  before.    In  that  year  an  alumni  associa- 


248    UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

tion  embracing  the  whole  country  was  proposed,  and  the 
next  one  saw  the  adoption  of  a  new  alumni  constitution, 
under  which  the  various  associations  are  supposed  to 
work  with  some  cooperation.  In  the  same  year  the 
mini  Club  of  Chicago  opened  its  first  quarters  on  a 
floor  leased  in  a  downtown  building.  The  first  annual 
home-coming  of  alumni  was  held  in  1910,  coincident 
with  the  chief  football  game  of  the  season,  and  was  at 
once  a  success.  There  are  now  nearly  fifty  alumni 
clubs,  including  three  abroad — in  India,  Brazil,  and 
Japan.  The  first  edition  of  the  Alumni  Record  was 
published  in  1906  and  the  second  in  1913,  while  a 
University  of  Illinois  Directory  was  published  in  1916, 
containing  the  name  of  every  person  ever  in  any  way 
connected  with  the  Urbana  departments.  These  publica- 
tions and  the  Quarterly,  which  with  three  thousand  sub- 
scribers is  now  the  Alunmi  Quarterly  and  Fortniglitly 
Notes,  genuinely  stimulated  the  interest  of  old  matric- 
ulants in  the  institution.  The  alumni  undertook  for 
the  first  time  the  raising  of  funds  for  a  University 
building  when  in  1914  Dr.  Burrill  initiated  through  the 
various  clubs  his  campaign  for  the  Gregory  Memorial. 
Within  two  years  about  $40,000  had  been  subscribed. 
Another  pledge  of  alumni  interest  in  University  affairs 
lies  in  the  consistency  of  their  representation  on  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  two  having  been  elected  in  1914. 

The  chief  characteristic  of  undergraduate  life  under 
Draper,  as  we  have  seen,  was  its  growth  from  the  quali- 
ties of  small  college  life  to  those  of  a  university.  But 
for  university  life  it  was  still  immature  and  struggling, 
with  institutions  embodying  high  ideals  and  those  of 
no  such  merit  existing  side  by  side.  Year  by  year  it 
was  to  lose  its  crudenesses,  and  to  see  its  more  unworthy 


ATHLETICS  AND  COACHING  249 

customs  and  methods  supplanted  by  those  registering 
an  improvement  in  intellectual  standards  and  manners. 
The  same  process  was  taking  place  the  country  over,  but 
at  Illinois  the  change  had  to  be  pronounced.  The  insti- 
tution which  grew  from  hundreds  to  thousands  of  stu- 
dents in  a  few  years,  without  controlling  student  tradi- 
tions or  customs,  was  likely  to  be  the  prey  of  sopho- 
moric  ideals.  Yet  it  must  be  appreciated  that  the  ear- 
nestness of  the  Illinois  student,  his  practical  sense,  have 
always  protected  him  from  many  of  the  serious  follies 
fairly  frequent  elsewhere. 

In  one  field  the  practice  of  Illinois  students  was  al- 
ways sound.  The  opening  of  the  administration  was 
coincident  with  the  adoption  of  the  graduate  coaching 
system,  demanded  on  the  ground  of  its  evident  sports- 
manship and  of  the  failure  of  the  old  system.  In  1901 
and  1902  Coach  Edgar  Holt  of  Princeton  proved  unsat- 
isfactory, and  in  1903  Coach  George  "Woodruff,  who  had 
been  very  successful  at  Carlisle,  led  the  football  team 
through  one  of  the  most  disastrous  years  in  its  history, 
though  he  had  good  material.  "Illinois  men  can't  do 
any  worse  and  perhaps  they'll  do  better,"  was  the  cry; 
and  the  Board  of  Athletic  Control  made  Arthur  Hall 
head  football  coach,  to  be  assisted  by  Lowenthal,  Lind- 
gren,  and  Mathews.  The  first  season  was  a  thorough 
success,  even  the  sempiternal  rival  Chicago  being  tied 
6  to  6.  The  next  two  were  lamentable.  Thenceforth 
there  was  a  series  of  years  in  which  victory  alternated 
with  defeat,  but  in  which  even  the  triumph  over  Chi- 
cago in  1910  did  not  convince  the  students  that  the  best 
possible  showing  was  being  made — now  Hall,  now  Lind- 
gren,  now  Lowenthal  chief  coach.  At  last,  in  1912,  the 
abandonment  of  the  graduate  system  was  decided  upon, 
and  Robert  Zuppke,  who  had  attracted  wide  attention 


250    UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

by  his  successes  with  a  high  school  team  in  Cook  County, 
was  brought  to  the  University  the  next  year.  The  wis- 
dom of  the  selection  was  proved  by  a  record  of  two 
seasons  after  1913  without  a  defeat.  A  pronounced  ele- 
ment in  the  increasing  strength  of  the  team,  however,  is 
the  new  wealth  of  football  material,  especially  in  col- 
leges other  than  engineering,  where  the  class  work  had 
always  required  such  close  application  as  to  prevent 
many  students  from  training  for  it ;  another  is  the  revi- 
sion of  football  rules  to  favor  open  tactics  and  light 
players.  But  the  long  experiment  with  graduate  coaches 
was  creditable  to  University  spirit,  and  never  in  the 
darkest  days  were  unfair  playing  methods  used. 

In  baseball  the  University  has  steadily  led  the  West, 
and  in  track  has  always  occupied  a  position  better  than 
the  average.  Coach  Huff  remained  in  charge  of  the 
nine,  as  well  as  athletic  director,  from  the  beginning 
of  the  administration.  In  1907  the  undergraduates 
were  frightened  by  his  departure  to  manage  the  Boston 
American  team,  but  he  was  induced  to  return.  A  repe- 
tition of  the  spectacular  Eastern  raid  was  prevented 
by  conference  rules,  but  in  1912  the  team  won  every 
game  played.  The  track  team  grew  perceptibly  stronger 
as  the  years  went  by,  and  in  1907,  1909,  1913,  and  1914 
won  the  outdoor  conference  meets  of  the  West.  It  has 
been  better  on  the  outdoor  than  the  indoor  tracks,  and 
has  won  its  place  rather  by  general  excellence  than  by 
the  production  of  stars.  The  first  basketball  was  played 
in  1906,  and  the  team  now  has  its  own  coach. 

One  of  the  best  measures  of  the  growing  vigor  of 
student  life  was  the  rapid  increase!  in  student  organiza- 
tions, which  in  large  part  represented  the  natural  striv- 
ing towards  student  democracy.  Not  merely  literary 
and  professional  bodies,  but  State  clubs,  county  clubs, 


STUDENT  ORGANIZATIONS  251 

foreigners'  clubs,  motorcycle  clubs,  chess  clubs,  semi- 
religious  clubs,  clubs  of  all  sorts  and  conditions,  were 
organized.  In  1909  the  IlUni  conservatively  estimated 
that  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  students  took  an  active  part  in 
one  or  many  organizations.  There  were  then  23  fra- 
ternities and  8  sororities,  11  honorary  fraternities,  and 
6  literary  societies,  while  the  remaining  organizations 
made  up  a  list  of  125.  Six  years  later  this  number  had 
certainly  increased  to  150,  and  there  were  few  students 
who  did  not  meet  some  group  of  fellows  regularly.  The 
number  of  social  fraternities  alone  in  that  year  was 
30  and  of  sororities  11,  with  a  score  of  honorary  Greek 
letter  bodies.  The  growth  of  the  latter  list  marks  the 
rise  of  standards  and  the  growth  of  registration  over 
a  wide  curriculum.  A  chapter  of  Tau  Beta  Pi  was 
established  in  1897,  one  of  Sigma  Xi  in  1903,  and  one 
of  Phi  Beta  Kappa  in  1907,  with  many  honorary  fra- 
ternities of  less  importance  at  intervening  and  later 
dates. 

Certain  prominent  undergraduate  organizations  have 
a  history  of  their  own ;  and  chief  among  these  is  the  Illi- 
nois Union,  founded  in  1909  on  the  model  of  similar  or- 
ganizations at  many  older  universities.  In  Dr.  James's 
first  talk  to  the  students  in  1904  he  called  attention  to 
the  desirability  of  an  organization  like  the  Harvard 
Union,  and  this  suggestion  he  repeated  on  various  occa- 
sions. In  1909  Prof.  L.  P.  Breckinridge  told  the  Juniors 
at  a  smoker  that  they  should  make  an  effort  to  obtain  a 
smoking  and  rest  room  in  a  University  building,  and 
this  idea  was  broadened  by  conferences  with  the  faculty 
until  it  approximated  the  President's.  By  June  of  that 
year  the  Union  had  been  organized,  had  enrolled  2,000 
men,  and  had  been  offered  $1,000  by  the  President  to- 
wards a  building.     It  at  once  took  charge  of  a  large 


252    UNIVEESITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

number  of  student  affairs,  from  the  class  contest  to 
student  dramatics.  In  1911  it  presented  the  first  stu- 
dent opera,  an  indescribably  sorry  affair  that  was  yet 
somehow  a  success,  while  before  tliis  it  had  attempted 
a  banquet  for  all  its  members.  Campaigns  for  funds 
were  conducted  energetically  among  students  and 
alumni,  many  seniors  in  several  classes  pledging  $25. 
Finally,  in  1913  a  solid  Union  investment  became  a 
reality,  the  officers  purchasing  a  small  business  block 
on  Wright  Street  near  the  old  Co-op.  The  Trustees  had 
informally  promised  a  site  on  the  campus,  but  not  for 
any  building  to  cost  less  than  $150,000,  and  the  present 
arrangement  is  temporary. 

The  Senior  societies  also  deserve  a  word,  for  they  were 
among  the  most  influential  bodies  on  the  campus.  The 
first,  Shield  and  Trident,  had  been  founded  in  1893, 
and  had  run  its  course  alone  till  the  foundation  of 
Phoenix  in  1906.  The  rivalry  between  the  two  was 
healthy,  for  while  the  older  body  was  controlled  largely 
by  a  select  group  of  fraternities,  and  interested  in  the 
prevalent  spoils  system,  Phoenix  was  democratic  and  de- 
veloped reformatory  tendencies.  Both  not  only  ar- 
ranged smokers,  supervised  many  student  activities,  and 
represented  the  undergraduates  in  dealing  with  the 
faculty,  but  were  supposed  to  number  the  most  admira- 
ble men  in  the  University.  Yet  in  both  standards  of 
membership  came  to  need  revision,  and  in  1911  two 
members  were  dropped  for  dishonesty  in  examinations, 
and  one  for  poor  scholarship,  while  others  had  records 
nearly  as  bad.  Both  societies  were  really  becoming  the 
butt  of  serious  students,  and  the  faculty  therefore  abol- 
ished them  and  substituted  a  single  organization  known 
as  Mawanda,  election  to  which  was  from  a  list  approved 
by  the  faculty.    The  change  was  linked  with  other  re- 


UNDERGRADUATE  "POLITICS"  253 

forms  by  the  disciplinary  authorities,  among  them  the 
abolition  of  Yoxan,  an  interfraternity  body  of  students, 
which  had  originated  when  saloons  were  still  kept  in 
the  Twin  Cities,  and  had  maintained  its  drinking 
traditions. 

The  most  unpleasant  feature  of  student  life  during 
the  early  part  of  the  administration  was  the  unhealthy 
atmosphere  of  undergraduate  politics.  For  the  presi- 
dencies of  the  classes  and  the  athletic  association,  and 
the  editorial  and  managerial  positions  on  student 
periodicals,  there  was  a  rivalry  among  certain  college 
elements  which  dealt  in  illicit  combinations  and  tricks, 
and  that  had  for  its  goal  personal  advancement  alone. 
In  the  miniature  college  world  there  was  something 
amusing  in  the  rise  of  these  petty  Quays  and  Crokers, 
but  there  was  also  something  damaging  to  student  char- 
acter. So  total  was  early  faculty  indifference  that  in 
1907  a  student  wrote  that  "no  class  has  yet  made  a 
regulation  in  its  constitution  or  otherwise  stating  accu- 
rately what  shall  be  the  remuneration  of  the  managers 
of  the  Illio,  or  what  shall  be  the  disposition  of  the 
profits  of  the  Cotillion,  or  Prom,  or  Senior  Ball,  or  how 
possible  deficits  .  .  .  shall  be  met. ' '  There  were  never 
any  marked  scandals  in  the  student  misappropriation 
of  funds,  but  there  were  many  veiled  accusations  of 
such  misappropriation.  In  1907  the  Council  appointed 
a  committee  to  audit  the  accounts  of  student  bodies,  but 
its  work  was  long  feeble.  Class  hat  and  cap  com- 
mittees were  often  accused  of  pocketing  profits  that 
were  not  theirs,  and  it  is  certain  that  local  merchants 
tried  to  bribe  the  members  to  grant  contracts,  and  some- 
times succeeded.  The  editors  and  managers  of  the 
Illini  and  Illio  split  the  profits  of  these  publications 
with  little  regard  for  the  assistants  who  labored  with 


254    UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

them,  and  these  profits  rose  to  $1,000  per  man.  One 
Illio  editor  paid  the  manager  a  small  round  sum  for  his 
share,  did  all  the  work  alone,  pocketed  all  the  profits, 
and  added  to  his  gains  the  commission  on  the  contract 
for  the  next  year 's  book,  which  he  persuaded  the  incom- 
ing editor  to  let  to  a  firm  he  represented.  The  large 
dances,  especially  the  Senior  Ball,  often  resulted  in  a 
division  of  minor  spoils  by  the  dance  committee.  There 
was  but  one  remedy,  and  it  came  when  the  faculty  took 
over  a  share  in  the  direction  of  student  activities,  and 
made  its  auditing  committee  a  stern  reality. 

Some  efforts  at  reform  the  students  did  themselves 
originate.  There  came  to  be  a  well-defined  undercurrent 
of  opposition  to  the  "  plunderbund, "  and  the  mere 
whisper  that  a  candidate  belonged  to  an  unsavory  secret 
fraternity  was  enough  to  injure  him.  Repeatedly  it 
assisted  students  to  office  that  they  were  known  to  be 
irreproachably  honest.  Yet  the  students  lacked  the 
administrative  foresight  to  erect  a  permanent  barrier 
against  the  old  methods.  The  Illini  and  Illio,  for  exam- 
ple, were  used  for  ten  years  like  cows,  to  be  passed 
from  milker  to  milker  and  regularly  exhausted,  when 
they  might  have  been  put  on  a  continuing  basis,  return- 
ing a  percentage  of  profits  year  by  year  for  equipment 
and  handing  down  a  tradition  of  splendid  service.  In 
1911-12  the  faculty  reformation  began  by  the  reorganiza- 
tion of  the  Illini.  It  was  not  unsatisfactory  as  a  news- 
paper, for  it  had  become  a  daily  of  forty  sixteen-inch 
columns,  but  it  was  felt  that  it  could  be  bettered,  could 
be  earning  money  for  its  own  press,  and  could  have  a 
closer  connection  with  the  Journalistic  courses.  An 
mini  corporation  was  formed  under  six  trustees,  three 
faculty  members,  three  students,  who  appointed  the 
editor,  manager,   and  bookkeeper,  and  controlled  the 


PUBLICATIONS  REORGANIZED  255 

general  policy.  The  new  system  was  heralded  by  the 
mini  in  an  issue  with  black-ruled  pages,  but  it  worked 
well,  and  a  little  later  both  the  Illio  and  the  Illinois 
Magazine  were  brought  under  the  same  plan.  At  about 
the  same  time  (1911)  student  organizations  were  for- 
bidden to  solicit  funds  from  local  business  men,  and  in 
1912  an  effective  auditing  committee  was  created,  with 
the  provision  that  its  consent  was  necessary  to  contracts 
involving  over  $150.  As  for  the  managerships  of  ath- 
letic teams,  they  had  never  offered  a  field  for  the  stu- 
dent dishonest  in  handling  money,  but  they  had  often 
given  inefficient  but  "popular"  students  an  office,  and 
they  were  now  put  upon  a  merit  basis,  apprentices  to 
them  being  tested  yearly. 

Thus  was  ended  a  very  discreditable  state  of  affairs. 
In  1913,  wrote  Dean  Clark,  "the  cap  and  gown  com- 
mittee for  the  last  few  years  .  .  .  has  had  little  real 
purpose  except  to  get  its  gown  free.  .  .  .  The  Sopho- 
more smoker  committee  of  the  class  of  1911  .  .  .  left  its 
bills  until  forced  by  the  University  authorities  to  pay 
them;  and  yet  the  members,  by  their  own  confession, 
profited  cigars  and  cigarettes  to  the  extent  of  some  fifty 
dollars."  Matters  had  gone  so  far  that  members  of 
an  unprofitable  students'  opera  were  peevish  that  they 
were  not  given  a  banquet  out  of  the  deficit,  and  that 
religious  workers  were  heard  to  complain  of  the  lack  of 
remuneration !  But  the  grosser  abuses  were  now  forever 
impossible. 

Yet  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  general  student 
life  was  not  at  this  time  sound.  The  majority  of  student 
activities  showed  sincerity  and  increasing  intellectual 
effort.  The  magazine  in  1912  was  distributing  from  five 
to  eight  hundred  well-edited  copies  monthly.  Debating 
and  oratory  had  been  sustained  with  as  much  success  as 


256     UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

at  other  mid- Western  universities.  In  1907  was  formed 
a  pentangular  debating  circuit,  and  this,  with  the  de- 
bating league  already  existing,  gave  University  teams 
rivals  on  all  sides.  The  Northern  Oratorical  League  and 
the  Intercollegiate  Peace  Association  offered  scope  for 
student  orators,  while  minor  contests  within  the  Uni- 
versity were  retained.  The  literary  societies  not  only 
held  their  own,  but  increased  in  number.  As  for  the 
technical  periodicals,  the  TecJmograpli  became  in  1911 
a  quarterly,  and  the  Illinois  Agriculturist  not  only  pros- 
pered but  achieved  a  State-wide  circulation.  In  1911, 
finally,  the  University's  first  distinctly  humorous  pub- 
lication, the  Siren,  had  its  sturdy  birth. 

The  interest  in  dramatics  was  of  an  especially  praise- 
worthy character,  and  there  is  not  space  here  to  enu- 
merate even  the  prominent  performances  of  a  list  long 
enough  to  atone,  in  part,  for  the  distance  of  the  Uni- 
versity from  the  metropolitan  stage.  In  1911,  as  Mr. 
T.  H.  Guild,  the  patron  and  guide  of  the  drama,  recalled, 
a  senior  had  had  an  opportunity  to  see  given  by  Mask 
and  Bauble,  by  the  literary  societies,  by  the  faculty 
Players'  Club,  or  by  the  class  in  dramatic  reading, 
"David  Garrick,"  "Nephew  or  Uncle,"  "The  Cricket 
on  the  Hearth,"  "The  Palace  of  Truth,"  "Esmeralda," 
"The  Rivals,"  "The  Honeymoon,"  "Our  Boys,"  "The 
Taming  of  the  Shrew,"  "'Op  o'  Me  Thumb,"  "St. 
Patrick's  Day,"  "Two  Strikes,"  by  Mr.  Guild  himself, 
' '  The  Two  Noble  Kinsmen ' ' — the  first  revival  of  Shake- 
speare's  and  Fletcher's  play  in  over  a  century,  am- 
bitiously given,  and  others.  A  graduate  student  might 
have  remembered  the  English  Club's  revival  in  1904  of 
Greene's  "Frier  Bacon  and  Frier  Bungay,"  so  success- 
ful that  it  was  repeated  at  the  installation  of  President 
James,  and  the  revival  by  a  literary  society  of  Shirley's 


CONCERTS  257 

**The  Opportunity,"  with  a  number  of  other  serious 
dramas.  After  1911  there  was  a  distinct  increase  in 
dramatic  activity,  and  scarcely  a  year  has  gone  by 
without  a  half  dozen  student  or  faculty  plays — two  or 
three  of  the  former  by  the  students  themselves.  The 
range  has  been  from  Shakespeare  to  Synge,  Ade,  and 
Galsworthy.  In  1913  a  branch  of  the  Drama  League, 
which  has  assisted  in  bringing  good  plays  from  the 
nearest  cities,  was  founded  at  the  University. 

Save  for  the  annual  May  Festival,  abolished  in  1911, 
the  students  in  the  early  part  of  James's  administra- 
tion had  scant  opportunity  to  hear  good  music.  The 
Star  Lecture  Course  occasionally  brought  a  good 
musician,  or  the  music  school  arranged  a  recital.  The 
Festival  was  done  away  with  on  the  understanding  that 
a  series  of  concerts  was  to  be  substituted,  and  the  Presi- 
dent at  once  called  the  Trustees'  attention  (1912)  to 
the  opportunity  to  assist.  "The  University,"  he  said, 
"has  not  given  as  much  attention  as  it  should  to  the 
cultivation  of  the  aesthetic  tastes  of  the  student  body; 
.  .  .  there  is  a  notable  lack  of  opportunities  to  see  and 
hear  productions  of  merit  in  music  and  drama,  painting 
and  statuary,"  and  he  urged  it  to  greater  attempts  to 
interest  students  in  these  things.  The  music  school 
agreeing  to  help,  an  appropriation  was  made  for  a 
series  of  concerts,  upon  which  $5,000  was  expended ;  the 
result  was  so  satisfactory  that  the  experiment  has  been 
repeated  yearly. 

Left  to  their  own  devices  for  much  amusement,  it 
was  natural  that  the  students  should  originate  many 
entertainments  of  their  own.  Thus  in  1907  two  were 
born  at  once — the  electrical  show  and  the  Interscholastic 
circus.  The  first  was  the  result  of  months  of  prepara- 
tion, and  was  both  spectacular  and  educational,  guides 


258    UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

being  provided.  It  was  attended  by  many  electrical 
engineers,  and  the  Electrical  World  remarked  that  "the 
combination  of  exhibits  of  scientific  interest  with  ex- 
hibits to  catch  the  popular  fancy,  and  the  means  used 
to  advertise  the  show,  prove  the  assertion  we  have  often 
made — that  the  technically  trained  man  is  equal  to 
almost  any  emergency."  The  circus,  a  happy  idea  of 
the  athletic  authorities,  brought  in  over  $1,000  at  the 
first  performance.  The  same  craving  for  amusement 
was  evinced  in  the  readiness  with  which  the  women 
developed  the  Maypole  dance,  introduced  by  Mrs.  Jean- 
nette  C.  Lincoln,  which  by  1907  was  attracting  nearly 
10,000  people.  Finally,  the  post-exam  jubilee,  orig- 
inated a  few  months  after  Dr.  James's  coming,  and 
the  "girls'  stunt-show"  which  followed  it,  each  a  series 
of  skits  on  contemporary  topics,  were  institutions  such 
as  would  hardly  have  been  born  at  a  college  in  or  near 
a  large  center. 

For  bettering  the  tone  of  student  life  nothing  was 
more  important  than  the  work  of  the  Christian  Asso- 
ciations, both  of  which  realized  before  the  end  of  the 
first  decade  of  the  administration  their  long  hopes  for 
homes.  The  year  it  opened,  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  which  had 
already  bought  the  site  it  now  holds,  sold  its  lots  east 
of  the  Engineering  Building  for  $15,000.  In  the  spring 
of  1906  a  building  committee  reported  that  practically 
$100,000  would  be  required  for  a  substantial,  roomy 
building,  and  that  of  this  $65,000  remained  to  be  raised. 
Congressman  W.  B.  McKinley  headed  the  subscription 
list  with  $15,000  for  a  building  and  $20,000  for  an  en- 
dowment, and  the  remainder  was  soon  obtained.  By 
1908  the  building,  which  contained  dormitory  room  for 
over  eighty  men,  a  library,  lounging  rooms,  bowling 
alleys,  restaurant,  and  so  on,  was  finished.    It  and  its 


Froxt  of  Woman's  Building 


CHURCH  AND  STUDENT  259 

site  represented  an  investment  of  $107,000,  and  it  has 
been  almost  invaluable  to  the  student  body.  Meanwhile 
the  Y.  W.  C.  A.  had  occupied  across  the  street  the  home 
formerly  used  by  the  two  Associations,  worth  perhaps 
one-fifth  as  much.  Early  in  1911,  having  received 
$20,000  as  a  gift  from  Congressman  McKinley,  and 
$15,000  as  a  loan,  it  also  set  out  to  raise  money  for  a 
permanent  building,  and  obtained  a  total  of  $50,000, 
with  which  a  structure  bearing  a  tablet  in  honor  of 
Congressman  McKinley 's  mother  was  erected.  Mr. 
McKinley  ultimately  canceled  the  loan  and  paid  to  the 
Association  the  total  amount  exclusive  of  his  gifts 
which  the  building  cost,  thus  making  the  whole  structure 
a  memorial  to  Hannah  McKinley.  Both  associations  are 
constantly  active  in  ways  religious,  social,  and  chari- 
table, and  their  membership  in  1914-15  approached 
1,500. 

The  work  of  the  various  churches  for  the  students, 
now  a  feature  of  life  at  Illinois  almost  unique,  was  in 
its  beginnings  when  Dr.  James  came,  but  quickly 
assumed  great  proportions.  The  lead  was  taken  by  a 
denomination  which  did  not  enroll  a  great  number  of 
students — the  Episcopalian.  In  1904  it  opened  a  house 
which  afforded  room  for  a  few  students,  with  much 
success;  and  early  in  1909,  as  a  result  of  efforts 
by  Edward  Osborne,  Bishop  of  Springfield,  ground  was 
broken  for  a  residence  hall,  completed  that  summer, 
for  over  thirty  girls.  The  Presbyterian  church  had 
begun  its  activities  among  the  students  only  a  year 
later  than  the  Episcopalian,  and  in  1909  these  flowered 
into  the  purchase  of  a  house  to  serve  as  a  men's  dormi- 
tory. Two  years  later  Congressman  McKinley  gave 
$30,000  to  be  used,  with  other  funds  already  raised,  in 
erecting  a  students'  Presbyterian  church  in  honor  of 


260    UNIVERSITY  AFTER  IT  FOUND  ITSELF 

his  father,  and  the  dormitory  was  moved  to  the  rear 
of  this  and  converted  into  a  girls'  residence  hall.  For 
the  endowment  of  the  church  over  $60,000  was  raised 
by  State-wide  collections.  Meanwhile  other  denomina- 
tions were  bestirring  themselves :  the  Congregationalists 
had  by  1910  purchased  a  house  and  lot  and  were  plan- 
ning to  erect  a  church,  the  Unitarians  at  the  same  time 
built  a  small  church  and  laid  emphasis  upon  student 
meetings  of  an  intellectual  character,  and  the  Lutheran 
and  Christian  churches  employed  student  pastors. 

Following  1910,  more  advanced  steps  were  taken  by 
some  churches,  in  which  the  Methodists  and  Baptists 
led.  The  latter  approved  (1910)  plans  for  a  large 
structure  to  be  at  once  church,  student  center,  and 
parsonage,  at  which  regular  courses  might  be  con- 
ducted in  Bible  study,  church  history,  and  so  on.  The 
Methodist  church  nearest  the  University  had  mean- 
while enlisted  the  support  of  the  general  Methodist  body 
in  the  State  in  organizing  the  Wesleyan  Foundation  of 
the  University,  under  a  board  of  trustees  headed  by 
Bishop  McDowell  of  Chicago.  Its  plans  call  for  the 
expenditure  of  over  a  half  million  on  a  group  of  build- 
ings which  shall  be  virtually  a  theological  seminary  as 
well  as  a  social  center  and  a  church,  to  be  supported 
by  an  endowment  of  as  least  as  much  more.  Resident 
lecturers  shall  be  employed  here  to  offer  instruction  in 
theological  subjects,  and  semi-theological  subjects  of 
general  appeal.  It  is  proposed  to  make  this  of  such 
grade  that  it  may  be  accepted  by  the  University  for 
partial  credit  towards  a  degree.  All  this  religious  work, 
involving  appeals  to  almost  every  congregation  in  every 
city  and  hamlet  in  Illinois,  has  naturally  assisted  the 
University's  prestige,  and  dissipated  the  last  of  the 
feeling  that  it  was  an  irreligious  place. 


UNIVERSITY  WOMEN  261 

The  improvement  of  living  conditions  among  women 
has  been  steady,  and  has  received  a  great  impetus 
in  the  construction  of  the  first  residence  hall.  The  very- 
increase  in  their  numbers  was  a  powerful  factor  in 
making  their  lot  happier,  for  their  special  activities  en- 
larged, and  they  were  enabled  to  build  up  a  richer  world 
of  extra-curricular  activities.  The  Woman's  Building 
brought  with  it  parlors  and  rest  rooms  as  well  as  offices 
and  gymnasium,  and  has  been  the  center  of  the  work 
and  play  of  the  women  ever  since.  With  the  assistance 
of  the  sororities  and  church  dormitories,  the  proportion 
of  women  in  boarding  houses  has  been  kept  from  grow- 
ing too  great,  while  the  dean  of  women — Mrs.  A.  H. 
Daniels,  Miss  Lily  G.  KoUoek,  Mrs.  Mary  Fawcett,  Miss 
Martha  J.  Kyle,  and  Miss  Fanny  C.  Gates  have  succes- 
sively served  as  dean  or  acting  dean  since  Miss  Jayne 
resigned  in  1904 — has  exercised  a  constant  supervision. 
Finally,  there  has  been  a  notable  increase  in  the  number 
of  faculty  women,  and  this  has  sensibly  improved  the 
atmosphere. 


VII 


ADMINISTRATION  AND  HOUSING  OF  THE 
UNIVERSITY 

The  Constitution  and  the  Budget.  Research  Work.  Faculty 
Life  and  Faculty  Personalities.  The  University  Buildings. 
Campus  Plan  and  the  Twin  City  Environment.  Equipment. 
The  University's  Physical  Future. 

The  organization  of  the  University  is  nearly  as  much 
the  result  of  a  slow  process  of  growth  as  its  buildings, 
equipment,  or  curriculum.  It  was  never  a  thing  taken 
ready-made  from  other  institutions.  Ideas,  to  be  sure, 
were  often  borrowed.  But  they  had  always  to  be 
adapted  to  the  peculiar  conditions  of  the  University, 
to  the  personalities  of  those  directing  it,  to  the  rapid 
changes  wrought  by  its  development;  and  since  1890 
some  distinct  innovations  are  traceable  in  State  Uni- 
versity practice  to  Illinois. 

The  Board  of  Trustees  and  the  Presidency  are  the 
two  parts  of  the  administration  that  have  most  prom- 
inently altered,  and  they  have  altered  throughout  all 
its  history.  At  the  organization  of  the  University,  as 
we  have  seen,  there  were  thirty-two  Board  members, 
including  the  Regent,  who  was  its  president.  Opera- 
tions under  this  system  did  not  satisfy  the  public,  for 
the  large  Board  delegated  more  and  more  power  to  the 
Regent,  till  it  was  almost  unlimited.  Within  a  few 
years  the  Legislature  reduced  the  membership  to  eleven 
and  deprived  the  Regent  of  his  place.    "We  have  noted 

263 


WORK  OF  TRUSTEES  263 

that  under  Dr.  Peabody  came  the  change  by  which  the 
Board  was  made  popularly  elective.  This  abolished  an 
"internalism"  by  which  the  Regent,  controlling  appoint- 
ments to  the  Board,  also  controlled  University  policies, 
and  it  made  the  people  more  willing  to  support  the 
University  because  they  were  in  more  direct  and  unre- 
stricted control.  But  this  new  independence  of  the 
Board  brought  about  a  new  vexation  in  its  frequent 
trespassing  upon  the  proper  functions  of  the  executive, 
and  made  necessary  a  sharper  delimitation  of  its  field 
and  powers.  Theretofore  the  difficulty  had  often  been 
in  getting  the  Trustees  to  make  a  stand  of  their  own; 
even  the  rugged  Alexander  McLean,  a  business  man  of 
Scotch  birth  whose  chapel  talks  were  the  delight  of 
early  students,  had  subserviently  followed  the  Regent. 
Thereafter  the  difficulty  was  in  preventing  undue  Board 
interference.  In  1898,  therefore.  Draper  wrung  from 
the  Board  a  comprehensive  statement  of  his  executive 
freedom. 

The  need  for  a  free  hand  Draper  thought  especially 
great  "in  an  institution  which  is  in  its  earlier  years 
and  rapidly  growing ;  where  the  Trustees  change  all  too 
frequently  and  practices  are  yet  to  be  coordinated." 
This  regard  for  his  functions  continued,  and  in  1903  he 
complained  of  the  Board's  requirement  that  such  re- 
ports as  were  made  by  the  deans  to  the  President  should 
be  sent  to  it  in  advance  of  its  sessions.  This  tended  to 
lessen  the  respect  for  the  office  of  the  President,  and 
to  change  the  character  of  the  reports.  The  deans 
tended  (he  thought)  to  speak  of  reports  to  the  Trustees 
when  they  were  expected  to  report  to  none  but  the  Presi- 
dent, and  to  introduce  recommendations  concerning 
matters  in  which  they  had  no  responsible  authority. 
Through  the  Trustees  to  whom  the  reports  were  sent, 


264    ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

information  concerning  University  policies  sometimes 
leaked  out  prematurely.  It  was  therefore  decided  that 
the  President  should  send  only  such  papers  and  reports 
to  the  Trustees  as  in  his  judgment  would  be  of  aid  to 
them.  President  James  has  repeatedly  shown  the  same 
jealousy  of  his  office,  and  it  has  not  been  encroached 
upon.  Indeed,  in  the  last  decade  the  Trustees  have  not 
only  allowed  the  President  due  executive  latitude,  but 
have  deferred  to  him  more  and  more  in  legislative 
policy.  Each  Trustee  generally  feels  himself  interested 
in  some  phase  of  the  University's  work,  while  there  are 
a  number  of  special  committees.  But  the  men  and 
women  are  usually  unable  to  give  detailed  attention  to 
the  state  of  the  University  as  a  whole,  or  to  grasp  all 
sides  of  a  problem  affecting  it  in  its  entirety;  there  is 
naturally  a  growing  tendency  to  accept  the  expert 
judgment  of  the  President.  This  is  true  even  when  it 
is  opposed  within  the  University.  Thus  several  years 
ago  the  college  of  engineering  wished  to  have  $50,000 
more  given  it  than  the  budget  approved  by  the  Presi- 
dent allowed.  Dr.  James  asked  Dean  Goss  to  speak 
before  the  Trustees  in  defense  of  his  position,  which  he 
and  several  departmental  heads  did;  the  Board  was 
much  impressed,  and  two  members  spoke  seconding 
Dean  Goss's  stand;  yet  the  Trustees  finally  followed  the 
President. 

The  Trustees  theoretically  meet  four  times  a  year, 
but  in  practice  nearly  a  score  of  sessions  are  required. 
As  the  meetings  seldom  require  less  than  two  days' 
time,  the  total  is  a  severe  tax  upon  the  unpaid  members. 
Less  and  less  attempt  is  made  to  transact  business  in 
committee,  for  this  is  found  often  to  mean  simply  a 
duplication  of  work.  The  Trustees  are  the  only  State 
officers  who,  since  the  passage  of  the  direct  primary 


ADMINISTRATIVE  LIBERALISM  265 

law,  are  nominated  at  the  regular  party  conventions — 
this  because  the  expense  of  putting  a  name  on  the  pri- 
mary ticket  is  heavy.  The  result  is  that  more  emphasis 
than  formerly  is  thrown  upon  the  nominations.  For 
over  twenty  years  the  alumni  have  taken  an  effective 
interest  in  the  choice  of  the  nominees,  and  have  usually 
had  a  hand  in  drawing  up  the  party  slate,  though  this 
has  to  be  managed  cautiously,  for  the  State  is  jealous 
of  the  public  nature  of  the  office,  and  frowns  upon  any 
move  towards  internal  control.  Politics  has  played  vir- 
tually no  part  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Board ;  on  the 
other  hand,  sectional  affiliations  and  various  economic 
or  financial  interests  have  sometimes  played  a  disagree- 
able part.  Thus  one  member  once  tried  to  obtain  special 
privileges  in  the  granting  of  contracts  to  the  district  in 
which  the  University  is  located,  and  had  to  be  checked. 
The  members  have  usually  been  very  fit,  and  though 
nominations  may  be  careless,  none  is  ever  willfully  bad. 
This  fact  represents  the  State 's  good  sense  and  idealism, 
for  it  will  brook  no  meddling  with  public  educational 
institutions.  The  asylums  and  charitable  interests  have 
sometimes  been  the  football  of  partisan  interests;  the 
normal  schools,  very  seldom;  and  the  State  University, 
never.  Certain  of  the  Trustees  have  assumed  an  im- 
portant part  in  the  development  and  growth  of  the  Uni- 
versity, serving  it  with  a  generous  expenditure  of  energy 
and  time;  most  prominent  among  these  are  S.  A.  Bul- 
lard,  who  served  continuously  from  1889  to  1907,  and 
was  twice  president  of  the  Board,  and  W.  L.  Abbott, 
another  alumnus,  who  has  served  since  1905  and  been 
president  much  of  that  time. 

A  President  solicitous  of  his  own  independence  will 
grasp  the  necessity  for  the  comparative  independence 
of  deans  and  departmental  heads  in  their  own  fields ;  and 


266    ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

since  1890  there  has  been  no  complaint  on  this  score  at 
Illinois.  Dean  Davenport  once  justly  attributed  the  ease 
with  which  his  college  shouldered  the  burdens  which  it 
was  predicted  would  break  it  down  to  this  administra- 
tive liberalism.  The  machinery  never  even  creaked, 
though  the  experiment  station  alone  had  to  take  up  a 
bulletin  service  soon  amounting  to  the  distribution  of 
35,000  copies  of  each  publication,  and  a  correspondence 
that  mounted  to  over  10,000  letters  yearly.  As  he  said 
of  his  departmental  heads : 

I  could  point  out  to  you  one  of  these  men  who  is 
responsible  for  the  profitable  use  of  over  $50,000  every 
year,  spent  in  his  department  alone  in  amounts  of 
from  five  cents  up ;  and  to  another  whose  researches 
bring  him  into  close  relations  with  the  most  extensive 
dealers  and  the  largest  business  interests.  The  least 
amount  for  which  any  of  the  heads  is  responsible  is 
$25,000  a  year.  Think  of  issuing  orders  to  that  kind  of 
men !  What  would  be  their  mind  if,  upon  returning  to 
the  University  after  a  conference  with  leading  citizens 
upon  matters  involving  thousands  and  perhaps  millions 
of  dollars  when  measured  by  public  utility,  or  upon 
policies  extending  over  generations,  they  should  pick  up 
and  read  specific  directions  concerning  a  ten-dollar 
detail? 

There  has  never  been  any  attempt  to  force  the  faculty 
to  another  course  in  the  name  of  administrative  solidar- 
ity. When  President  James  first  came  he  determined 
to  unite  the  two  liberal  arts  colleges,  but  as  opposition 
developed  in  one  which  felt  that  its  interests  might  be 
neglected,  he  waited  years  till  its  faculty  was  converted. 
In  the  departments  each  man  knows  his  responsibilities. 
He  knows  how  much  money  he  can  have  for  the  year ;  as 
he  helped  make  the  division,  he  understands  why  it  is 
that  sum.     All  plans,  estimates,  and  lists  of  appoint- 


THE  BUDGET  267 

ments  and  reappointments  of  course  pass  under  the 
President's  hand;  but  he  never  forces  an  unwelcome 
appointment  on  a  department. 

For  one  thing,  this  administrative  flexibility  is  neces- 
sary to  give  the  President  the  leisure  for  representing 
the  University  before  the  public  that  his  position  as 
State  officer  requires.  Gregory  was  inclined  to  travel 
widely  and  to  speak  before  anj^  available  audience,  from 
a  rural  gathering  to  a  national  convention  of  educators. 
Peabody  spoke  little,  but  Draper  very  much.  Dr. 
James  has  also  keenly  appreciated  the  value  of  the 
speechmaking  that  can  be  done  at  professional  and 
trade  gatherings,  banquets,  and  civic  conventions,  espe- 
cially within  Illinois.  It  gives  the  President,  too,  the 
proper  freedom  for  blocking  out  new  policies  and  ex- 
amining them  in  all  their  bearings.  Even  if  he  never 
left  the  campus  the  President  would  always  be  in  dan- 
ger of  being  overburdened  with  this  labor  of  adminis- 
trative planning  and  consultation;  and  at  a  State  uni- 
versity he  must  be  away  from  the  campus  much  of 
the  time.  Finally,  it  is  necessary  in  order  also  to  allow 
the  heads  of  many  departments  scope  for  unimpeded 
service  to  the  State. 

The  making  of  the  University  budget  is  a  difficult  and 
protracted  process.  During  the  winter  of  every  second 
year  there  has  to  be  prepared,  in  collaboration  with 
State  officers,  an  estimate  of  the  receipts  from  the  mill 
tax  for  the  biennium,  and  a  bill  appropriating  this 
much  in  a  number  of  round  sums  for  general  purposes, 
of  which  instructional  work  and  the  erection  of  build- 
ings are  the  two  chief.  If  the  tax  does  not  produce  the 
estimated  amount,  the  budget  has  to  be  confined  to  that 
sum.  The  work  of  preparing  this  appropriation  bill 
falls  to  the  President,  in  consultation  with  the  deans; 


268   ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

and  after  it  is  passed  and  the  proceeds  of  the  tax  are 
actually  available,  the  final  touches  must  be  given  the 
detailed  budget  which  has  been  meanwhile  in  process 
of  formation.  In  large  part  this  second  budget  is 
planned,  not  for  the  biennium,  but  for  the  year.  Early 
in  the  winter  the  departments  are  busied  with  their 
estimates  for  equipment,  salaries,  expansion,  and  so  on, 
while  the  deans  and  departmental  heads  most  closely 
affected  are  called  into  consultation  upon  the  new 
buildings,  the  new  purchases  of  land,  and  general  ex- 
penses of  maintenance.  Each  dean  keeps  track  of  his 
college's  expenses.  The  estimates  by  the  departmental 
heads  are  gone  over  by  the  deans,  and  the  deans  and 
President,  with  such  professors  as  are  necessary,  make 
out  the  final  document.  A  virtual  committee  on  esti- 
mate and  apportionment  is  thus  formed  of  a  part  of  the 
Senate;  and  by  the  July  meeting  of  the  Board  it  has 
submitted  its  document  to  the  Trustees  and  had  it  ap- 
proved. Much  routine  work  in  budget-making  naturally 
goes  on  throughout  the  year.  The  comptroller  makes  a 
monthly  financial  report  to  the  president  of  the  Board, 
quarterly  reports  to  Board  and  Governor,  annual  re- 
ports on  Federal  funds  to  the  Interior  and  Agricultural 
Departments,  and  a  biennial  report  for  general  use. 

As  bodies  for  the  unification  of  the  several  colleges, 
the  Council  of  Administration  and  the  Senate  have 
served  their  purpose  well.  The  union  of  the  faculties 
is  not  so  close  as  in  an  institution  like  Columbia,  where 
men  in  the  governing  body  of  one  college  sit  in  another, 
and  slight  friction  between  different  colleges  has  not 
been  unknown.  Frontiers  wiU  always  be  strongly 
marked.  But  Senate  committees  completely  cutting 
across  college  lines  are  frequently  appointed;  while  the 
graduate   school   is   governed   by   fourteen   professors 


STATE  OFFICES  269 

representing  all  the  colleges  except  law.  The  Council, 
which  meets  once  a  week,  advises  the  President  and 
exercises  general  disciplinary  functions — the  deans  sit- 
ting on  it  passing  on  all  general  matters  of  student  con- 
trol. It  has  also  a  limited  amount  of  ad  interim  legis- 
lative power.  Legislation,  however,  is  supposed  to  be- 
long to  the  Senate  of  full  professors  and  departmental 
chiefs,  which  meets  about  once  a  month  to  pass 
upon  all  matters  of  educational  policy.  Much  of  its 
business  is  that  which  comes  up  to  it  from  the  various 
college  faculties,  and  is  thus  threshed  out  twice.  Some 
believe  it,  however,  both  too  unwieldy  and  too  hetero- 
geneous a  body  for  the  proper  discussion  of  many  matters 
of  academic  administration,  for  the  representatives  of 
the  technical  faculties  often  feel  incompetent  to  pass 
upon  questions  directly  affecting  the  liberal  arts  or  law 
colleges  or  professional  schools  alone,  and  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  other  colleges  and  schools  similarly 
feel  estopped  from  discussing  points  of  technical  edu- 
cation. It  is  possible  that  the  faculty  of  the  college  of 
liberal  arts  and  sciences  will  come  to  take  the  central 
place  in  the  discussion  of  questions  of  policy  involving 
general  pedagogical  considerations,  as  Harvard  College, 
for  example,  does  in  Harvard  University.  But  growth 
in  this  direction  will  probably  be  slow.  Illinois  takes 
her  government  seriously,  as  the  time  spent  by  the 
Senate  committee  on  a  new  constitution,  which  reported 
its  instrument  for  approval  in  1915,  showed.  Laboring 
under  Prof.  Ward  two  years,  it  produced  an  instru- 
ment containing  more  proposals  of  a  radical  and  yet 
very  thoughtful  nature  than  a  casual  reading  would 
suggest. 

The  various  State  agencies  at  the  University  are  vari- 
ously controlled.     The  State  Entomologist's  Office  is 


270   ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

under  the  direction  of  the  State  Entomologist  alone; 
the  State  Laboratory  of  Natural  History  is  controlled 
in  part  by  the  Trustees,  but  receives  its  funds  direct 
from  the  Legislature;  the  State  Water  Survey  is  a 
division  of  the  chemistry  department;  the  State  Ge- 
ological Survey  is  under  a  commission,  of  which  the 
President  is  an  ex-officio  member;  and  the  Miners'  and 
Mechanics'  Institute  has  always  been  controlled  by 
the  Trustees.  The  Chicago  colleges  are  answerable 
to  the  Trustees  and  President,  and  their  old  di- 
vorce from  those  at  Urbana  is  being  steadily  bridged 
over. 

Within  the  colleges,  the  departments  are  sometimes 
one-man  divisions  to  a  regrettable  extent.  Some  have 
heads,  and  some  of  those  with  enough  members  of 
professorial  rank  have  the  less  autocratic  chairman. 
Often,  it  is  true,  even  the  head  shares  his  responsibili- 
ties with  others,  as  in  chemistry  Dr.  Noyes  is  ably  as- 
sisted by  Prof.  Parr  and  others,  and  in  some  engineer- 
ing courses,  covering  large  fields,  there  is  a  certain 
division  of  responsibility.  But  the  University  has  seen 
many  instances  in  which  one  man  has  been  the  life  of 
his  group.  The  result  is  unfortunate  in  that  this  man, 
sometimes  of  fine  ability  as  teacher  or  investigator,  is 
often  submerged  beneath  the  burden  of  routine  adminis- 
tration; and  in  that  when  he  leaves  the  University  his 
department  is  sadly  crippled  for  months  or  years. 
But  as  the  University  expands  this  condition  is  being 
remedied. 

Research  work  at  Illinois  has  been  much  stimulated 
by  the  fact  that  there  exist  two  departments  wholly 
devoted  to  it — the  agricultural  and  engineering  experi- 
ment stations.  The  work  of  the  State  offices  on  geology, 
natural  history,  and  entomology  also  liberally  provides 


RESEARCH  AND  PUBLICATIONS         271 

for  much  original  investigation.  No  student  with,  a 
bent  for  inquiry  into  certain  technical  or  scientific  fields 
could  go  to  a  better  place,  though  thus  far  the  benefits 
of  the  two  stations  have  been  rather  to  faculty  than 
to  postgraduates.  The  staffs  are  largely  made  up  of 
regular  faculty  members,  and  men  who  might  never 
have  thought  of  advanced  investigation  have  produced 
striking  results  in  experiments  on  machinery,  fuels, 
building  materials,  soils,  and  in  genetics.  The  great  ma- 
jority of  the  bulletins  are  of  faculty  authorship.  The 
effect  of  the  stations  on  the  liberal  arts  colleges  haa 
been  traceable.  They  gave  the  spirit  of  research  there 
a  competitive  vitality  the  moment  the  graduate  school 
was  fully  established,  and  they  gave  it  for  a  time  a 
utilitarian  direction.  The  University  Studies  abound 
in  titles  in  the  history  and  economic  and  social  life  of 
the  West,  and  especially  of  Illinois. 

But  the  tendency  is  to  greater  breadth  in  research. 
In  1909  the  University  began  printing  a  list  of  the 
faculty  publications  of  the  year,  and  this  has  not  only 
lengthened  but  grown  in  scope.  In  1914-15  this  list 
comprised  thirty-three  large  octavo  pages  of  titles  of 
books  and  articles,  of  which  only  a  fraction  specifically 
concerned  Illinois,  many  even  of  the  agricultural  pub- 
lications having  a  wider  application.  The  faculty  also 
undertakes  a  greater  variety  of  ventures  in  editing. 
Prof.  Noyes  is  editor  of  the  Journal  of  tlie  American 
Chemical  Society;  Prof.  Alvord  of  the  Mississippi  His- 
torical Review;  Prof.  Bentley  of  the  PsycJiological 
Index;  Prof.  Bagley  was  founder  of  the  Journal  of 
Educational  Psychology,  in  the  editing  of  which  he  con- 
tinues to  assist;  Professors  Gocbel,  H.  S.  V.  Jones,  and 
Flom  edit  the  Journal  of  English  and  Germanic  Philol- 
ogy;  and   Prof.   Ward   is   editor   of   the   Journal   of 


272   ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

Parasitology ;  while  the  roster  of  assistant  editorships 
is  of  course  long.  For  the  first  thirty  years  of  the 
University  but  one  or  two  faculty  members  had  any 
time  for  research;  now  even  the  most  overworked  de- 
partmental head  is  guaranteed  some  leisure.  A  half 
dozen  of  the  standard  treatises  in  engineering,  as  many 
more  in  agriculture,  and  works  of  reputation  in  soci- 
ology, political  science,  economics,  pedagogy,  and  pure 
science  have  been  brought  out  by  University  men  in 
the  last  decade. 

Faculty  life  in  Urbana  is  quite  free  from  the  snobbish 
atmosphere  that  readers  of  Dorothy  Canfield's  stories 
might  think  characteristic  of  the  academic  settlement 
in  a  small-town  environment.  For  the  simple  reason 
that  they  cannot  have  any  fellowship  except  within  the 
University,  the  upper  faculty  grades  do  not  try  to  shut 
themselves  off  from  the  subordinate.  There  is  no 
temptation,  as  in  a  large  city,  for  deans  or  depart- 
mental heads  to  consort  only  with  equals  in  rank,  and 
fill  up  a  limited  acquaintance  by  friendship  with  a 
certain  set  of  business,  political,  or  social  figures  down- 
town. There  is  also  little  of  the  snobbery  that  dictates 
that  young  professors  shall  spend  more  than  their 
salary  justifies  in  a  squirrel  cage  effort  to  seem  richer 
than  they  are.  The  faculty  spirit  retains  the  Western 
democracy  with  which  it  was  imbued  under  Gregory 
and  Peabody,  and  newcomers  must  adapt  themselves  to 
it  or  suffer.  The  faculty  ball  games,  the  faculty  dances, 
the  informal  faculty  Greek  or  scientific  reading  circles, 
know  no  artificial  lines.  The  only  sneers  are  at  men 
like  the  foreign  professor  who  was  reputed  to  exclude 
all  men  under  the  rank  of  assistant  professor  from  his 
house  lest  his  marriageable  daughters  take  a  fancy  to 


FACULTY  FIGURES  273 

them!  The  faculties  of  the  different  colleges  intermin- 
gle as  much  as  at  most  institutions.  The  University 
Club,  built  in  1908,  has  been  invaluable  in  affording 
a  place  where  all  faculty  people  can  meet  at  frequent 
intervals  in  receptions,  card  parties,  or  dances;  while 
for  the  faculty  bachelors  it  offers  a  commons,  and  for 
a  few,  rooms.  The  membership  fee  is  low,  and  the 
intellectual  Catholicism  of  the  members  has  never  per- 
mitted it  to  become  a  resort  for  cliques.  The  house  is 
too  small,  however,  to  have  its  due  influence.  The  fac- 
ulty dramatic  club  has  cut  across  college  lines  admira- 
bly, and  the  University  remembers  plays  in  which  pro- 
fessors in  agriculture,  engineering,  and  liberal  arts  have 
said  more  to  each  other  than  they  would  say  again  in 
a  semester.  There  are  a  greater  number  of  formal 
faculty  receptions  than  are  common  in  a  city — held  at 
the  Woman's  Building  or  President's  House — and 
the  faculty  has  even  developed  a  summer  camp  on  the 
east  shore  of  Lake  Michigan  where  a  considerable  group 
spend  their  vacations. 

The  democracy,  the  good  spirit,  the  unity  of  faculty 
life  have  undoubtedly  been  due  in  part  to  the  fact  that 
until  a  few  years  ago  its  chief  traditions  clustered  about 
a  half  dozen  figures  whose  service  was  to  be  reckoned 
in  decades  rather  than  in  years,  and  whose  personalities 
have  been  all  that  is  ripe  and  sound.  Death  has  made 
inroads  upon  the  group,  though  four  of  its  members — 
Eicker,  Rolfe,  Baker,  and  Forbes — remain.  It  was  one 
of  the  University's  pieces  of  good  fortune  that  no  less 
than  six  of  its  earliest  servants,  the  three  men  first 
named  and  Burrill,  Snyder,  and  Shattuck,  should  round 
out  almost  a  half  century  in  its  service ;  while  two  more, 
Forbes  and  Pillsbury,  who  came  in  the  later  years, 
should  remain  in  responsible  positions  till  long  after  it 


274   ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

had  gained  its  feet.  These  are  the  men  whom 
the  alumnus  first  remembers  when  he  thinks  of 
the  University,  and  whose  names  occur  first  to 
the  faculty  member  who  has  gone  elsewhere  from 
Illinois. 

The  chief  of  the  molding  faculty  personalities  was 
clearly  that  of  Dr.  Burrill,  a  teacher  and  investigator 
nearly  as  familiar  to  the  graduate  of  1914  as  to  that 
of  1874.  Four  times  acting  head  of  the  institution, 
his  name  will  always  be  connected  with  the  three  years 
during  which  it  was  lifted  from  a  blind  and  painful 
lane  to  the  road  of  real  progress.  The  energy  which 
he  expended  in  behalf  of  the  University  was  always 
remarkable.  "When  he  first  came  he  "taught  most  of 
the  day,  was  horticulturist  to  the  experiment  station, 
planted  with  his  own  hands  or  saw  to  the  planting  of 
most  of  the  trees  on  the  campus,  .  .  .  wrote  reports, 
lectured  here  and  there,  served  on  innumerable  com- 
mittees, collected  specimens  up  and  down  the  State,  and 
lest  some  remnant  of  his  time  should  be  unoccupied,  was 
charged  by  the  Board  with  the  sale  of  a  pair  of  mules." 
A  scholar  of  distinction,  with  a  pronounced  gift  for 
research,  in  the  early  eighties  he  had  opened  the  path 
to  fame  in  bacteriology  and  cryptogamic  botany,  with 
discoveries  that  the  Germans  denounced  as  frauds,  but 
quickly  accepted.  He  gave  up  his  scientific  ambitions 
for  administrative  tasks ;  and  though  he  never  repined, 
there  was  something  pathetic  in  the  eagerness  with 
which  in  his  old  age,  released  from  office,  he  turned  again 
to  the  investigations  with  which  he  might  once  have 
made  himself  almost  a  Pasteur  of  the  plant  world.  He 
was  president  of  the  American  Microscopic  Society  and 
of  the  American  Society  of  Bacteriology,  and  his  col- 
lected scientific  papers  would  make  several  volumes — 


FACULTY  FIGURES  275 

such  a  memorial  to  the  writer  as  should  some  time  be 
published.  The  Trustees  would  have  been  glad  to  elect 
him  President  had  he  not  forbidden  such  a  move  as  often 
as  it  was  suggested ;  for  his  capacity  for  hard  administra- 
tive labor  was  united  with  a  certain  retirement  of  dis- 
position. Great  gentleness  made  him  loved  to  an  extraor- 
dinary degree,  and  one  of  his  colleagues  once  remarked : 
*'Dr.  Burrill,  biologically  speaking,  you  are  a  monster  of 
goodness."  His  death  in  1916  was  the  occasion  of  a 
remarkable  tribute  to  his  character  and  work. 

Shattuck,  a  Yankee  of  long  lineage,  who  had  joined 
the  Sixth  Massachusetts  Regiment  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  Civil  War  and  who  was  wounded  at  Cedar  Creek, 
was  for  thirty-seven  years  head  of  the  department  of 
mathematics,  and  much  else  besides.  At  the  beginning 
he  also  taught  military  tactics  and  civil  engineering. 
He  long  did  surveying  for  the  University;  and  he  was 
business  manager  and  comptroller  for  many  years,  a  dif- 
ficult position,  which  he  filled  with  shrewdness  and  tact. 
Above  all,  he  was  a  teacher,  and  with  a  flavor  of  his 
own.  He  told  Draper  that  he  would  retire  from  the 
University  when  he  ceased  to  instruct  in  mathematics, 
and  it  was  difficult  for  him  to  devote  himself  more  and 
more  to  administration.  The  alumni  as  a  whole  must 
remember  him  chiefly  for  the  vivacity  and  keenness  with 
which  he  taught  an  exact  science.  Pillsbury,  who  was 
also  a  New  Englander,  a  war-time  graduate  of  Harvard, 
began  his  connection  with  the  University  in  1888  as 
secretary  of  the  Agricultural  Experiment  Station,  and 
in  1893  became  registrar,  he  and  Burrill  shouldering 
many  minor  responsibilities  for  which  Draper  could 
find  no  time  in  the  subsequent  years  of  rapid  growth. 
He  was  a  man  of  rare  sensitiveness  and  modesty,  and 
rare  attention  to  duty;  and  his  unusual  memory  was 


276   ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

of  great  value  to  him  in  his  office.  Rieker  entered  the 
University  at  the  age  of  twenty-six,  and  as  a  master 
workman,  a  fact  which  Dr.  Gregory  made  the  theme 
for  a  talk  in  chapel  concerning  the  industrial  significance 
of  the  University.  He,  too,  was  for  thirty-seven  years 
the  head  of  a  department — that  of  architecture,  which 
he  made  the  largest  and  one  of  the  foremost  in  the 
country.  For  twenty-seven  years  he  was  dean  of  the 
college  of  engineering.  But  his  unselfish  labors  for 
the  University  took  many  forms.  He  was  architect  of 
the  Law  Building,  Natural  History  Building,  the  old 
Armory,  the  Machine  Shop,  and — with  Prof.  White — 
the  Library;  and  this  work  was  always  undertaken  to 
save  the  University  the  payment  of  architectural  fees, 
and  to  enable  him  to  see  that  the  most  value  was  re- 
ceived for  the  money  expended.  For  example,  the 
State  appropriated  only  half  enough  for  the  old  Ar- 
mory, and  to  this  the  Trustees  were  able  to  add  but 
little  more  from  other  sources.  Rieker  spent  the  summer 
in  study  of  plans,  and  decided  that  the  only  way  to 
obtain  the  building  was  to  erect  it  under  his  personal 
direction,  and  chiefly  with  the  men  employed  in  the 
wood  shop.  By  his  patient  direction  it  was  completed 
without  a  deficit. 

Professor  Baker  entered  the  University  the  year  after 
Rieker — 1871 — and  becoming  a  member  of  the  faculty 
on  graduation,  was  made  head  of  the  civil  engineering 
department,  a  post  he  held  till  1915 ;  he  has  long  been  a 
leader  in  technical  instruction,  and  was  founder  of  the 
Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Engineering  Education. 
Prof.  Forbes,  who  came  in  1884,  is  a  servant  to  whom  the 
whole  State  owes  a  debt,  but  who  has  long  occupied  a 
peculiarly  respected  position  at  the  University.  He 
fought  in  the  Civil  War,  as  a  mere  boy  taking  part  in 


FACULTY  FIGURES  277 

Grierson's  raid;  he  was  attracted  to  science,  and  became 
curator  of  the  scientific  museum  at  the  State  Normal 
University;  and  soon  after  he  was  instrumental  in  or- 
ganizing the  State  Natural  History  Survey.  Like  Bur- 
rill,  he  had  to  give  up  many  promising  lines  of  research 
when  he  became  dean  of  the  college  of  science;  but  he 
still  found  time  to  prosecute  the  principal  of  his  investi- 
gations, and  since  1909,  when  he  resigned  as  professor 
of  zoology,  he  has  devoted  himself  anew  to  tasks  long 
ago  planned.  His  writings  on  scientific  subjects,  con- 
tained chiefly  in  the  publications  of  the  two  State  offices 
which  he  has  headed,  are  voluminous. 

The  alumni  who  cannot  remember  the  kindly  Prof. 
C.  W.  Eolfe,  a  graduate  in  the  class  of  1872,  who  re- 
turned to  take  charge  of  the  department  of  geology  in 
1881,  was  responsible  for  much  of  its  growth,  and  still 
teaches  in  it,  and  under  whom  instruction  in  ceramics  had 
its  beginnings,  are  rare.  Prof.  A.  N.  Talbot  was  one  of 
five  graduates  in  engineering  in  1881,  and  after  practical 
work  in  the  West  returned  midway  in  Peabody's  ad- 
ministration to  become  assistant  professor  of  engineering 
and  mathematics.  He  later  established  a  laboratory  for 
testing  materials  when  the  only  other  in  the  country  was 
at  the  Massachusetts  Institute  of  Technology,  and  this 
laboratory  is  now  the  best  in  the  United  States.  His  in- 
vestigations have  been  carried  far  into  several  divisions 
of  engineering,  and  he  has  become,  in  the  words  of  a  Uni- 
versity which  awarded  him  an  honorary  doctorate, 
"master  of  engineering  in  its  relations  to  railway,  hy- 
draulic, and  sanitary  construction,  eminent  as  a  teacher 
of  theoretical  and  applied  mechanics,  prolific  and  re- 
spected writer  on  these  subjects."  Prof.  S.  W.  Parr, 
who  was  graduated  three  years  later  than  Talbot,  and 
has  been  much  like  him  in  his  unostentatious  work,  is 


278   ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

also  widely  known  outside  the  University,  particularly 
for  his  long  and  laborious  study  of  the  utilization  of  coal 
and  coal  products.  Donald  Mcintosh,  a  picturesque 
Scotch  figure,  rounded  out  thirty  years  of  service  follow- 
ing 1885  as  head  of  the  veterinary  science  department, 
and  was  the  first  to  receive  a  regular  retiring  allowance 
from  the  University ;  and  Prof.  H.  S.  Grindley  also  will 
soon  have  worked  for  three  decades,  in  chemistry. 

A  special  word  is  due  two  men,  both  dead,  of  unusual 
influence  upon  general  University  life:  Thacher  H. 
Guild  and  Prof.  Edward  Snyder.  The  former  probably 
accomplished  more  in  his  ten  years  (1904-14)  in  the 
English  department  to  cultivate  a  taste  for  good  music 
and  drama  among  the  students  than  had  been  done  by 
all  the  faculty  in  thirty  before.  Prof.  Snyder,  the  mili- 
tary commandant  for  some  years,  was  professor  of  Ger- 
man or  modern  languages  till  failing  health  compelled 
him  to  leave  in  1896  for  California.  His  commanding 
physique,  his  sturdy  character,  and  his  generous  kindli- 
ness gave  him  a  rare  hold  on  the  students'  hearts;  in  re- 
tirement he  confessed  that  he  had  once  wished  to  be  a 
scholar,  but  that  the  sympathy  needed  by  the  many  poor 
and  struggling  youths  of  the  new  University  drew  him 
irresistibly  from  secluded  study.  The  student  loan  fund 
which,  in  old  age  and  out  of  modest  means,  he  in- 
stituted, is  an  inadequate  memorial  to  a  man  who,  in  the 
words  of  one  of  the  older  deans,  ''was  for  many  years 
by  far  the  most  vitalizing  influence  of  the  whole  in- 
stitution," He  took  a  keen  interest  in  everybody,  and 
it  was  not  necessary  to  be  one  of  his  students,  hearing 
his  appreciative  "Full  correct!"  at  a  good  recitation, 
to  feel  that  he  was  one  of  the  centers  of  University  life. 

The  campus  has  undergone  such  a  forced  development 
in  the  last  fifteen  years  that  alumni  of  an  earlier  date 


THE  CAMPUS  PLAN  279 

would  scarcely  recognize  it.  The  first  plan  was  pub- 
lished in  the  Trustees'  report  for  1872,  and  showed  623 
acres;  but  no  one  then  expected  that  any  portion  ex- 
cept that  in  the  vicinity  of  University  Hall  would  be 
used  for  building  sites.  The  Board's  refusal  about 
1870  to  buy  the  lots  which  would  almost  have  doubled 
Illinois  Field,  offered  at  $9,150,  was  due  not  only  to 
lack  of  funds  but  to  a  conviction  that  the  campus  need 
not  be  large.  It  would  have  been  fairly  easy  in  the 
early  decades  to  have  converted  the  older  portion  from 
a  narrow  strip  into  a  spacious  square.  Two  men,  how- 
ever, showed  unusual  foresight  in  planning.  Dr. 
Gregory  insisted  on  locating  University  Hall  "on  the 
ridge  south  of  Green  Street"  instead  of  upon  Illinois 
Field,  as  proposed ;  and  Dr.  Burrill  laid  out  the  avenue 
southward  which  now  bears  his  name,  and  planted  it. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  when  the  Hall  was  built 
many  thought  the  dormitory  on  Illinois  Field  itself  too 
far  south,  while  the  new  buildings  site  was  in  the  mid- 
dle of  a  flat  and  wet  prairie.  The  University  till  1886 
was  without  the  strip  on  which  the  Natural  History 
Building  now  stands,  and  till  1894  without  that  on 
which  the  Chemistry  Laboratory  and  Agricultural 
Building  are  placed — the  boundary  of  the  campus  run- 
ning just  east  of  the  present  Law  Building. 

After  University  Hall  the  erection  of  the  old  Chem- 
istry Laboratory,  now  the  Law  Building,  the  Natural 
History  Building,  various  small  engineering  structures, 
and  Military  Hall  followed  without  any  apparent  plan 
in  campus  development  beyond  a  lining  up  of  the  build- 
ings along  Green  and  Springfield  Streets.  But  this 
primitive  scheme  was  given  real  direction  when  the 
Engineering  Hall,  the  President's  House,  and  the  Li- 
brary were  located  in  a  manner  changing  the  group 


280   ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

from  a  street  facade  to  a  partial  quadrangle,  and  sug- 
gesting a  similar  area  on  the  south  campus.  A  new 
sense  of  the  value  of  space  entered  into  the  location  of 
the  Agricultural  Building,  far  enough  south  to  be  near 
the  farms;  and  the  Chemistry  Building  was  placed  be- 
tween according  to  its  due  relation  to  the  colleges  of 
science  and  agriculture.  The  "Woman's  Building  was 
located  opposite  to  mark  the  other  side  of  the  quad- 
rangle, at  a  point  far  enough  south  to  afford  outdoor 
playgrounds.  Meanwhile,  on  the  old  arboretum  site  the 
college  of  engineering  had  been  developing  a  useful  but 
crowded  and  ill-designed  group.  With  the  erection 
of  the  Auditorium  and  the  planning  of  Lincoln  Hall, 
about  1910  it  was  plain  that  the  two  quadrangles  would 
soon  be  completed;  that  the  rapidly  expanding  depart- 
ments would  force  the  pace  of  building;  and  that  the 
University  must  plan  for  a  great  and  symmetrical  ex- 
pansion in  some  direction,  preferably  to  the  south. 
There  were  some  who  proposed  the  acquisition  of  a  new 
campus  alongside  the  old  one,  as  at  the  University  of 
Minnesota,  then  spending  a  half  million  for  new  land; 
and  some  who  thought  that  larger  buildings,  more 
closely  grouped  in  the  existing  area,  to  be  supplemented 
by  small  plots  to  be  acquired  on  each  side  the  campus, 
would  be  the  best  solution  of  the  problem.  But  against 
the  first  was  the  double  objection  of  costliness  and  an 
overcrowding  of  the  University  district;  against  the 
second  that  of  lack  of  spaciousness  and  architectural 
unity,  and  danger  from  fire. 

In  1905  Mr.  C.  H.  Blackall,  in  conference  with  01m- 
stead  Brothers,  had  drawn  a  University  plan  which 
contemplated  the  grouping  of  the  buildings  around  a 
central  mall,  to  be  made  by  the  elimination  of  Uni- 
yersity  Hall  and  the  Law  Building,  thus  leaving  a  clear 


THE  CAMPUS  PLAN  281 

space  between  the  Auditorium  and  some  permanent 
building  to  be  placed  near  the  site  of  the  President's 
House.  South  of  the  Auditorium  should  be  placed  three 
other  quadrangles;  north  of  the  mall  should  lie  two, 
forming  the  engineering  group.  The  two  sides  of  the 
mall  would  give  room  for  over  a  dozen  buildings.  Sev- 
eral years  later  State  Architect  Zimmerman  made  a 
tentative  plan  which,  like  Blackall's,  recognized  the 
Auditorium  as  an  axis,  but  which  differed  in  breaking 
the  mall  by  placing  a  building  in  its  exact  center,  thus 
making  of  the  middle  of  the  campus  two  quadrangles 
instead  of  one.  Finally,  a  University  Commission  was 
appointed,  consisting  of  Messrs.  Zimmerman,  White, 
Blaekall,  and  Burnham,  which  offered  a  plan  more 
finished  and  acceptable  than  the  previous  ones,  and 
which  has  been  slowly  matured  in  conception  by  Prof. 
White.  An  attempt  has  been  made  in  it  to  allow  for 
the  expansion  of  all  the  colleges  without  widely  sep- 
arating allied  interests,  to  achieve  architectural  unity, 
and  to  provide  sufficient  recreation  areas  to  encourage 
exercise.  In  its  present  state,  it  provides,  like  Blaekall 's, 
for  a  central  mall,  though  it  sensibly  allows  room  for 
but  eight  large  buildings  on  its  sides,  these  to  be  de- 
voted to  liberal  arts  and  sciences.  North  of  this  is  to 
lie  the  expanded  engineering  group,  occupying  nearly 
twenty  buildings  on  a  plot  between  Illinois  Field  and 
Green  Street — this  plot  to  be  greatly  widened  through- 
out most  of  its  breadth  by  purchases.  South  of  the  mall 
group  is  to  come  the  greatest  expansion.  Flanking  the 
Auditorium  are  to  be  placed  the  Smith  Memorial  Build- 
ing and  the  Gregory  Memorial  Building,  with  the 
women's  residence  halls  well  to  the  east.  On  a  line  just 
to  the  south  of  this,  already  marked  by  the  Armory,  is 
to  be  placed  a  row  of  very  large  structures — the  men's 


282   ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

dormitories,  the  gymnasium,  the  library,  and  the  mu- 
seum— while  in  front  of  the  women's  residence  halls  will 
He  playgrounds.  Further  still  to  the  south  will  lie  the 
great  agricultural  quadrangle,  with  the  experimental 
plots  on  one  side  of  it,  and  the  large  men's  drill-  and 
playground  on  the  other.  For  the  construction  either 
of  the  agricultural  or  engineering  groups  some  $3,000,- 
000  will  be  required,  and  certain  buildings  in  each  are 
now  urgently  needed. 

To  the  best  of  plans  there  are  objections,  but  no  doubt 
some  modification  of  this  one  will  be  followed.  The 
location  of  the  new  library  and  armory,  the  women's 
dormitory,  art  and  music  building,  and  Gregory  Me- 
morial has  already  been  fixed  according  to  its  provisions. 
The  great  difficulty  in  providing  for  a  symmetrical  and 
careful  plan  of  campus  development  is  the  constant 
shifting  of  the  authority  which  has  the  location  and 
construction  of  the  buildings  in  charge.  There  is  no 
opportunity  to  choose  a  Richardson,  Root,  or  McKim  to 
dominate  the  situation  and  lay  down  plans  that  will  be 
followed  even  after  his  death.  Yet  much  has  been  done 
in  the  last  years  to  make  the  office  of  University  archi- 
tect one  of  greater  authority,  so  that  no  matter  how 
frequently  a  new  State  architect  is  appointed,  some 
continuity  of  development  may  be  obtained.  During 
Mr.  Zimmerman's  eight  years  as  State  architect  he  de- 
signed all  University  buildings  at  his  office  in  Chicago. 
Mr.  Dibelka,  appointed  his  successor  by  Gov.  Dunne, 
permitted  all  except  the  Administration  Building  and 
addition  to  the  Chemistry  Building  to  be  designed  in 
Prof.  J.  M.  White's  office,  ostensibly  as  a  branch  of 
his  own — Prof.  White  being  University  architect.  But 
the  best  solution  would  be  the  exemption  of  all  Univer- 
sity construction  from  Springfield's  authority. 


NOTABLE  BUILDINGS  283 

Serviceable  as  her  buildings  at  Urbana  are,  of  only 
half  of  them  has  Illinois  any  reason  to  be  proud.  Those 
constructed  or  under  construction  in  1914  represented 
a  total  investment  of  about  $2,600,000,  which  by  the 
close  of  1915  had  risen  above  $3,000,000;  and  this, 
owing  to  the  low  cost  of  building  materials  and  labor, 
has  given  the  University  a  much  better  group  of  struc- 
tures than  would  be  possible  in  or  near  a  large  city. 
Many  of  them  are  better  than  they  were  ever  expected 
to  be,  for  the  greatest  care  was  taken  in  expenditures 
for  them.  Yet  parsimonious  appropriations  made  erec- 
tion by  wings  all  too  frequent  till  near  the  passage  of 
the  mill  tax  law,  and  a  few  buildings  come  near  de- 
serving the  epithet  applied  to  them  by  the  Alumni 
Quarterly — "shanties."  ''Because  it  has  been  almost 
impossible  to  get  enough  from  any  one  Assembly  to 
build  adequate  structures,"  it  said  in  1911,  "and  quite 
impossible  to  secure  appropriations  for  constructing  a 
part  of  a  building  which  might  be  completed  later,  we 
have  on  the  campus  the  shabby  gymnasium,  the  hy- 
draulics and  chemistry  laboratories,  and  others;  we 
have  this  year  been  given  $200,000  for  an  engineering 
building  and  site,  whereas  $300,000  is  the  smallest  sum 
at  all  adequate  to  the  purpose;  and  $125,000  to  house 
the  school  of  commerce,  a  group  of  interests  which  ought 
to  have  at  least  $300,000."  Happily,  the  list  of  sub- 
stantial structures  is  being  lengthened  by  the  remodel- 
ing or  replacing  of  the  poorer  ones. 

University  Hall  is  the  center  of  the  campus — ^to  older 
alumni  it  is  the  University  itself.  Almost  the  only  spot 
that  has  not  altered,  to  every  student  it  holds  the  chief 
associations  of  old  friends  and  old  times,  of  classes,  clubs, 
and  student  affairs.  It  has  largely  been  redeemed  from 
its  homeliness  by  the  weathering  of  its  bricks  and  the 


284    ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

growth  of  its  ivy;  and  it  is  still  solidly  useful.  The 
occasional  talk  of  its  demolition  is  quickly  checked  by  re- 
membrance that  at  the  busiest  hours  over  2,000  students 
and  instructors  are  found  there,  and  that  many  of  the 
classes  would  be  homeless  without  its  rooms.  Its  mu- 
seums are  gone,  its-  libraries  have  been  taken  to  safer 
quarters,  most  offices  have  sought  the  light  and  air  of 
Lincoln  Hall  and  the  Commerce  Building,  most  of  the 
girls'  literary  societies  are  in  the  Woman's  Building; 
but  it  is  still  the  recitation  center.  Next  to  it,  as  general 
centers,  stand  Engineering  Hall,  the  Natural  History 
Building,  and  the  Agricultural  Building — each  the 
focus  of  a  half  dozen  busy  departments.  Not  one  re- 
sembles another,  yet  the  general  effect,  particularly  as 
each  is  embowered  in  trees,  is  pleasing.  The  first,  with 
its  four  stories,  heavy  stone  base,  and  substantial  lines, 
contributes  to  the  proper  atmosphere  of  a  technical 
group.  The  second  was  long  thought  to  have  the  best- 
designed  exterior  of  any  building  on  the  campus,  and 
with  its  many  gables  is  still  one  of  the  prettiest.  The 
sweeping  level  lines  of  the  third,  and  the  beautiful  en- 
trance f  agade,  harmonize  with  the  wide  stretch  of  lawn 
in  the  quadrangle  before  it;  while  it  has  been  easy  to 
add  subsidiary  structures  at  low  cost. 

All  the  most  pretentious  buildings  except  the  Li- 
brary date  from  later  years — the  Woman's  Building, 
Lincoln  Hall,  and  Physics  Building.  The  Library  is 
still  the  most  distinguished  piece  of  Romanesque  archi- 
tecture in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  is  in  admirable 
relief  to  the  boxlike  outlines  of  University  Hall  at  its 
elbow.  Its  tower  of  132  feet  is  the  highest  point  on  the 
campus.  The  interior  is  as  well  designed  as  the  ex- 
terior, for  the  delivery  room,  open  to  the  roof,  is  lighted 
by  a  dome,  and  on  the  four  sides  are  lunettes  decorated 


o 

H 
Q 

Eh 


NOTABLE  BUILDINGS  285 

with  frescoes — one  symbolic  of  engineering  depicting 
the  forging  of  a  shaft,  one  of  agriculture  showing  a 
harvest  evening,  and  those  representing  science  and  lit- 
erature with  personifications  of  the  arts  and  industries. 
In  the  rotunda  is  displayed  an  ox-yoke  made  by  Lin- 
coln. The  Woman 's  Building,  as  completed  by  the  huge 
new  addition,  is  calculated  to  offend  the  artistic  eye,  but 
has  the  impressiveness  of  size.  The  Auditorium  is  a 
monumental  building  of  commanding  exterior,  and  with 
a  beautifully  proportioned  and  wide  interior.  In  1914 
an  organ  costing  $25,000  was  installed,  and  at  the  same 
time  steps  were  taken  to  overcome  the  echo  which  had 
always  marred  the  building,  and  to  decorate  the  walls. 
It  was  indeed  an  acoustic  wonder.  A  watch  ticking  on 
the  pulpit  could  be  heard  at  the  farthest  corner  of  the 
balcony ;  a  whisper  on  the  stage  returned  distinctly  after 
a  Journey  of  225  feet;  and  speakers  had  their  voices 
thrown  back  at  them  from  every  direction.  The  intro- 
duction of  felt  strips  to  absorb  the  sound  cured  this; 
the  walls  were  decorated  in  ivory,  and  a  semi-indirect 
lighting  system  installed.  The  Physics  Building  and 
Lincoln  Hall  have  lines  resembling  each  other,  which 
are  also  roughly  but  clearly  those  of  the  Transportation, 
Ceramics,  and  Commerce  and  Vivarium  Buildings,  and 
which  promise  ultimately  to  give  most  newer  structures  a 
fair  uniformity.  But  they  differ  in  details  and  Lincoln 
Hall  in  especial  has  a  highly  ornate  quality.  The  facade 
contains  a  series  of  ten  terra  cotta  panels  representing 
scenes  in  the  life  of  Lincoln,  from  his  rail-splitting  days 
to  the  end  of  the  Civil  War.  On  the  two  wings  are 
a  series  of  inscriptions  from  the  utterances  of  Lincoln, 
flanked  by  terra  cotta  portraits  of  twenty  men  asso- 
ciated with  him  in  public  life — twelve  of  them,  Douglas, 
Trumbull,  Grant,  Yates,  Turner,  Logan,  Oglesby,  Love- 


286    ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

joy,  Davis,  Palmer,  Koerner,  Me  dill,  from  Illinois. 
There  is  an  ornamental  entrance,  just  within  which  is 
sunk  in  the  marble  floor  a  tablet  bearing  the  Gettysburg 
Address.  The  Physics  Building  is  distinguished  by  its 
extraordinarily  substantial  character,  and  is  an  excellent 
example  of  how  high  utility,  with  but  slight  attempts  at 
decoration,  can  achieve  attractiveness. 

Of  the  remaining  buildings,  the  steel  and  concrete 
Armory  is  notable  as  the  largest  structure  of  its  sort  at 
any  university,  and  heaves  its  back  so  high  over  the 
trees  that  it  is  visible  for  miles  acrosa  the  prairie.  The 
University  brigade  was  bursting  the  old  Armory,  but 
it  is  easily  engulfed  in  this  one.  The  proposal  of  a 
dancing  floor  in  it  led  one  student  wag  to  suggest 
chaperones  with  binoculars  and  motorcycles.  The  orig- 
inal portion  of  the  Chemistry  Building  cost  about 
$150,000,  but  the  massive  completion  of  its  rectangular 
framework  in  1915-16  brought  the  total  well  above  a 
half-million.  Four  seminars  are  housed  in  it,  a  library, 
a  museum,  large  lecture  rooms  and  many  recitation 
rooms,  and  individual  desks  for  about  2,000  students, 
with  adequate  research  laboratories.  The  Commerce 
and  Administration  Buildings,  component  parts  of  a 
larger  Commerce  Building  to  be  completed  soon,  are 
plain  but  comfortable  and  solidly  designed.  The 
Ceramics  Building  is  the  nearest  approach  to  an  all- 
Illinois  structure  on  the  campus,  its  brick,  terra  cotta, 
concrete,  and  ornament  all  having  come  from  Illinois 
soil.  The  intention  was  to  use  as  many  ceramic  ma- 
terials as  possible,  and  orange,  blue,  and  green  panels 
and  different  shades  of  face  brick  have  been  effectively 
arranged.  It  also  contains  its  own  library  and  mu- 
seum, with  a  large  number  of  research  and  general 
laboratories.    The  Transportation  Building  near  by  is 


EQUIPMENT  287 

a  substantial  three-story  structure.  Repeated  efforts 
have  been  made  to  refurbish  the  Gymnasium,  which 
uses  the  old  Armory  as  annex,  and  with  some  success, 
though  the  building  is  a  sorry  one  beside  Chicago's  or 
Northwestern 's.  On  the  northern  part  of  the  campus 
have  lately  gone  up  the  Vivarium  and  the  Education 
Building,  the  first  on  the  campus  arm  gradually  extend- 
ing westward  into  Champaign,  the  second  immediately 
to  the  east  of  Trinity  Church.  In  the  first,  which  cost 
over  $75,000,  are  the  best  laboratories  in  the  country  for 
advanced  experimental  research  in  zoology  and  en- 
tomology; while  upon  the  second  a  moderate  sum  is 
being  expended  ($205,000),  to  be  supplemented  as  the 
school  of  education  grows.  On  its  southern  stretched 
have  lately  been  erected  the  small  Genetics  Laboratory, 
housing  thousands  of  mice,  rabbits,  and  guinea  pigs  for 
experiments  in  heredity,  and  the  Woman's  Residence 
Hall.  When  to  these  are  added  the  Smith  Memorial 
Building,  and  the  first  segment  of  the  huge  $3,000,000 
Library  which  the  University  hopes  to  begin  in  1918, 
this  part  of  the  campus  will  begin  to  have  a  crowded 
and  prosperous  air.  The  well-built  and  attractive 
Agronomy  and  Farm  Mechanics  Buildings  there  are 
already  losing  their  lonely  look. 

In  its  equipment  the  University  was  long  even  more 
hampered  than  in  its  erection  of  buildings.  Legisla- 
tures could  be  induced  to  appropriate  round  sums  for 
construction,  but  they  seldom  left  much  to  spare  for 
furniture,  and  to  set  aside  money  for  museums  was 
unheard-of.  Use  of  the  Natural  History  Building  was 
long  delayed  for  want  of  chairs  and  desks.  In  1902 
the  construction  of  the  Chemistry  Building  cost  so  much 
that  only  $800  was  left  for  equipment  and  every  one  of 
the  battered  desks  in  the  old  building  was  moved  over. 


288   ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

''It  certainly  was  a  distressing  feature,"  wrote  Prof. 
Parr,  "in  making  the  ncAV  building  ready  for  occupancy 
in  the  fall  to  see  these  old  wrecks  hoisted  by  rope  and 
tackle  to  the  third  story  and  skidded  into  place  for 
service  again."  The  neglect  of  the  library  was  for 
decades  very  unfortunate.  But  money  has  been  increas- 
ingly provided,  till  under  the  mill  tax  law  it  is  possible 
for  the  University  to  spend  approximately  as  much  for 
books  and  for  imported  chemical  equipment,  for  ex- 
ample, as  the  richest  endowed  institutions. 

The  library,  upon  which  nearly  as  much  money  is 
spent  as  at  any  other  University  (well  over  $50,000 
a  year),  and  which  grew  faster  during  1914-15  than 
any  except  those  at  Yale  and  Harvard,  has  swollen 
quite  beyond  the  bounds  of  the  present  building.  To 
this  fact  the  University  is  partly  indebted  for  a  very 
convenient  arrangement  of  seminar  libraries.  Of  the 
400,000  volumes  and  thousands  of  pamphlets  the  Uni- 
versity possesses  at  Urbana,  about  100,000  volumes  are 
located  in  Lincoln  Hall,  now  full,  about  20,000  in  the 
Law  Building,  about  20,000  in  the  Natural  History 
Building,  and  smaller  collections  in  other  structures. 
There  is  little  duplication  of  books.  The  seminar  li- 
braries are  special  reference  collections  upon  shelves 
conveniently  open  to  students  and  flanked  by  tables 
which  may  be  converted  into  desks  by  thesis-writers. 
But  they  serve  for  much  more  than  reference,  for  the 
long,  brightly-lit  rooms  and  the  rows  of  fresh  bindings 
are  a  standing  attraction  to  browsing  undergraduates. 
The  central  library  serves  as  a  key  to  the  whole,  its 
catalogues  showing  clearly  in  which  building  a  volume 
is  placed;  and  its  officers  are  obliging  in  arranging 
transfers  of  books.  The  fact  that  funds  are  constantly 
at  hand  with  which  to  buy  books  smoothes  the  path  of 


BOOKS  289 

research,  although  many  workers  must  still  do  with- 
out needed  volumes.  The  faculty  committee  governing 
the  matter  sees  that  the  weak  spots  are  systematically 
strengthened.  Men  who  have  joined  the  faculty  with 
fears  that  their  work  would  be  hampered  by  poor 
library  facilities  have  confessed  finding  more  advan- 
tages here  than  they  expected. 

The  acquisition  of  special  collections  began  in  1905, 
with  the  purchase  of  the  Dziatsko  collection  on  library 
economy  from  the  librarian  of  Gottingen.  It  has  been 
followed  by  the  purchase  from  German  scholars  of  the 
Dittenberger  collection  of  the  classics,  the  Heyne 
philological  collection,  the  Grober  collection  in  the  Ro- 
mance languages,  the  Vahlen  classical  collection,  and  the 
Aron  pedagogical  collection.  From  the  United  States 
have  come  the  Karsten  collection  in  French  and  German 
literature,  the  Rattermann  collection  of  7,000  volumes 
upon  German  culture  in  the  New  World,  and  various 
gift  collections  of  smaller  size. 

For  a  library  allotted  so  much  money,  that  at  Illinois 
shows  an  unusual  enterprise  in  increasing  its  collections 
by  the  solicitation  of  books  obtainable  by  exchange  or 
gift,  and  of  useful  public  documents.  A  typical  en- 
deavor is  the  building  up  of  a  large  collection  of  real 
estate  maps  of  Illinois  communities  by  obtaining  from 
insurance  companies,  free  or  at  low  cost,  the  old  maps 
of  their  expensive  series;  another  is  the  systematic  ac- 
quisition of  official  labor  union  reports  in  America  and 
abroad.  There  is  a  library  staff  of  sixty,  including 
part-time  assistants.  The  forty-five  students  of  the 
library  school  perform  no  labor  except  that  directly 
useful  to  themselves,  as  cataloguing,  classifying,  and 
ordering  books.  They  have  no  time,  for  the  two  years 
of  professional-graduate  study  the  school  embodies  are 


290    ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

crowded.  The  whole  book  collection  may  be  expected 
to  grow  at  the  rate  of  from  35,000  to  50,000  volumes  a 
year  in  the  next  decade,  which  will  bring  it  not  far 
below  the  total  of  1,000,000  volumes  which  a  Senate 
resolution  recently  set  as  the  University  goal  in  that 
time.  Special  effort  is  made  to  interest  students  in 
reading  by  keeping  before  them  a  "gilt  star"  collec- 
tion of  fiction,  and  other  open  shelves  of  readable  books, 
while  small  traveling  fraternity  libraries  have  been 
proposed.  The  new  Library  Building  is  designed  to 
give  room,  when  complete,  for  as  many  as  5,000,000 
books. 

Aside  from  the  library,  the  most  prominent  general 
collections  are  those  of  the  old  art  gallery,  the  classical 
museum,  the  museum  of  European  culture,  and  the 
group  of  scientific  museums.  The  art  collection  has  been 
dispersed  since  Gregory's  time,  eight  of  the  large  casts 
being  in  the  foyer  of  the  Auditorium,  a  large  number 
of  busts  in  the  seminar  rooms  of  Lincoln  Hall,  other 
objects  in  the  art  and  design  quarters,  and  some  of  the 
engravings  in  various  offices.  With  other  paintings  and 
prints  recently  acquired,  it  is  hoped  to  give  it  suitable 
housing  and  room  for  expansion  in  the  Gregory  Me- 
morial Building.  The  museum  of  European  culture  was 
opened  in  Lincoln  Hall  in  1913  with  an  address  by 
Kuno  Francke,  and  has  grown  rapidly,  though  it  has 
thus  far  emphasized  the  medieval  period.  There  are 
copies  in  it  of  Romanesque,  Gothic,  and  Italian  and 
German  Renaissance  sculptures,  reproductions  of  paint- 
ings and  ivory  carvings,  of  several  suits  of  armor,  and 
of  seals  of  the  middle  ages;  a  collection  of  original  im- 
plements and  weapons  of  the  stone  age,  early  printed 
books,  some  illuminated  books  of  hours,  and  a  number 
of  models  of  theaters,  with  several  hundred  rare  coins 


MUSEUMS  291 

from  a  Chicago  donor.  The  museum,  of  classical 
archaeology  and  art  has  obtained  many  casts  which  com- 
plete historically  those  in  the  art  collection.  To  these 
have  been  added  originals  and  reproductions  of  coins, 
terra  cottas,  and  other  small  antiquities,  models  illus- 
trating ancient  household  and  civic  life,  and  a  number 
of  interesting  specimens  of  Egyptian  pottery  necklaces, 
figurines,  etc.,  obtained  through  the  generosity  of  an- 
other Chicagoan.  Both  museums  show  an  appreciation 
of  the  educational  value  of  collections  of  photographs, 
and  while  both  are  in  their  infancy,  they  will  be  granted 
means  to  grow.  It  is  hoped  that  to  the  museum  of 
European  culture  the  foreign  and  naturalized  elements 
in  Illinois,  especially  the  German,  Scandinavian,  and 
Italian  stocks,  will  contribute  works  of  art,  books,  and 
objects  of  historical  interest. 

Among  the  scientific  collections  first  mention  should 
be  given  that  in  entomology,  one  of  the  largest  in 
America.  It  includes  an  elementary  exhibit  of  6,400 
common  specimens,  the  collection  of  Andreas  Bolter,  of 
Chicago,  of  120,000  specimens,  representing  16,000 
species,  and  315,000  pinned  insects  of  the  State  En- 
tomologist's Office.  The  herbarium,  thanks  mainly  to 
the  State  Laboratory,  contains  65,000  mounted  plants, 
while  there  is  a  collection  of  35,000  named  specimens  of 
fungi.  In  geology  the  University  has  profited  both  by 
private  collections  and  those  of  the  State  Geological 
Survey,  and  has  over  10,000  rock  specimens,  12,000 
mineral  specimens,  50,000  paleontological  specimens,  in- 
cluding the  collections  of  Tyler,  McWhorter,  Worthen, 
and  Hertzer,  and  3,000  shells.  The  zoological  collection 
presents  a  full  view  of  the  fauna  of  Illinois,  with  a 
large  number  of  mounted  mammalia  from  all  parts  of 
the  world,  mounted  birds,  and  mounted  cold-blooded 


292    ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

vertebrates.  The  museum  collections  of  all  the  engineer- 
ing departments  are  large,  for  from  the  very  beginnings 
of  the  University  their  comparative  prosperity  has  en- 
abled them  to  obtain  growing  stores  of  blue  prints, 
working  drawings,  photographs,  building  materials,  fit- 
tings, and  parts  of  machinery;  while  the  attention 
Western  engineering  and  architectural  interests  have 
paid  the  departments  has  brought  them  many  gifts. 
Agriculture  of  course  has  all  the  illustrative  materials 
needed,  from  wax  models  of  fruit  to  a  collection  of 
threshing  machines. 

Twenty-six  departments  of  the  University  are 
equipped  with  laboratories,  placed  in  a  dozen  buildings. 
The  University's  isolation  necessitates  possession  of 
some  materials  that  in  a  large  city  the  departments 
could  find  elsewhere.  The  engineering  group  makes  a 
particularly  good  showing.  The  locomotive  testing 
laboratory  is  the  most  complete  of  its  kind  in  America, 
being  fitted  to  measure  speed  and  power  of  locomotives, 
and  strength  of  rails,  car  axles,  couplers,  and  brakes; 
while  it  has  its  own  electric  and  steam  test  cars.  The 
mining  engineering  laboratory  contains  materials  for 
drilling,  blasting,  mine  rescue,  and  ore  concentration 
work.  In  the  mechanical  engineering  laboratory  are 
large  experimental  boiler  plants  and  gas  engines,  and 
such  pieces  of  special  equipment  as  an  ice  and  re- 
frigerating machine  capable  of  making  one  and  a  half 
tons  of  ice  a  day.  In  civil  engineering  are  satisfactory 
road  and  cement  laboratories,  and  in  electrical  engineer- 
ing a  wealth  of  machinery — sixty  direct  or  alternating 
current  machines,  fifty  transformers,  experimental  tele- 
phone switchboards,  and  so  on.  In  physics  there  is  a 
collection  of  5,000  pieces  of  apparatus,  from  a  liquid  air 
plant  to  an  oscillator ;  fine  machine  work  can  be  done  in 


THE  CAMPUS  SURROUNDINGS  293 

the  building,  and  gas,  distilled  water,  compressed  air 
and  vacuum,  and  a  wide  range  of  electric  currents  are 
available  in  all  its  parts.  The  materials  testing  labora- 
tory and  hydraulics  laboratory  are  among  the  best  in 
America,  and  the  ceramics  laboratory  has  no  rival. 

The  equipment  in  household  science  is  inferior  to  that 
found  but  at  one  or  two  schools,  and  is  quite  adequate  to 
the  registration.  In  agriculture  work  is  carried  on  not 
only  on  fields  at  the  University,  part  of  which  has  been 
under  continuous  experimental  treatment  over  thirty- 
five  years,  but  on  nearly  forty  rented  or  donated  tracts 
in  various  parts  of  the  State.  Horticulture  has  also 
twelve  special  plots  scattered  over  the  State,  while  at 
the  University  are  large  orchards,  vegetable  gardens, 
and  greenhouses.  Milk  production  is  illustrated  on  a 
twenty-acre  farm,  with  plants  for  manufacturing 
cheese  and  ice-cream.  The  University  herds,  flocks,  and 
studs  contain  nearly  1,000  animals,  largely  pure-bred. 
Besides  the  laboratories  in  the  central  Agricultural 
Building,  special  laboratories  are  available  in  the 
Genetics  Building  for  thremmatology. 

The  Twin  City  environment  of  the  University  is  still 
far  from  ideal,  for  on  the  prairie  immediately  adjoining 
the  campus  have  sprung  up,  together  with  blocks  of  at- 
tractive residences,  other  blocks  of  small  and  ill-kept 
frame  houses.  The  portions  flanking  the  northern  part 
of  the  campus  are  the  most  discreditable.  Southward 
the  faculty  residences  in  Urbana  and  the  fraternity  and 
sorority  houses  in  Champaign  are  steadily  improving 
the  appearance  of  the  towns.  A  few  apartment  houses 
are  springing  up;  the  business  district  that  centers  at 
Wright  and  Green  Streets  witnesses  the  rapid  displace- 
ment of  frame  stores  by  brick  and  stucco.  One  by  one 
the  eyesores  south  of  the  Green  Street  line  in  both  towns 


294  ADMINISTRATION  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY 

are  disappearing — a  memorial  church  driving  one  out, 
a  dean 's  residence  another,  an  expensive  structure  for  use 
as  combined  boarding  and  dancing  hall  a  third,  some- 
times a  fraternity  house  clearing  out  a  whole  half  block. 
Trees  everywhere  are  reaching  a  considerable  growth, 
and  most  streets  are  paved.  The  towns  have  an  at- 
mosphere of  spaciousness,  quiet,  and  in  summer  of  trim 
greenness  that  is  very  refreshing,  and  that  hundreds  of 
the  faculty  would  not  throw  into  the  balance  to  gain 
the  variety  of  a  large  city.  It  might  be  well  if  the  towns 
were  to  cooperate  with  the  University  in  erecting  a 
planning  commission  to  see  that  the  two  University  dis- 
tricts and  the  campus  were  brought  into  harmony;  but 
the  problem  is  solving  itself  very  well. 


VIII 
STUDENTS  AND  STUDENT  LIFE 

Characteristics  of  the  Western  University  Student.  Physical 
Sports  and  Military  Training.  Student  Journalism.  The  Fra- 
ternities and  Sororities,  Religious  Activities.  Discipline. 
The  College  Year. 

It  is  a  frequent  remark  of  faculty  newcomers  from 
the  East  that  the  Illinois  student  is  perceptibly  more 
earnest  than  the  average  college  undergraduate.  This 
earnestness,  however,  does  not  carry  with  it  a  greater 
ambition  than  is  to  be  met  with  elsewhere.  The  stu- 
dent's industry,  his  intentness  on  problems  of  actual 
life,  his  practical  interest  in  everything  from  making 
a  dynamo  to  the  theory  of  economics,  are  not  given  their 
due  edge  by  a  desire  to  strive  towards  high  goals,  and 
are  accompanied  by  much  of  the  limitation  of  outlook 
that  characterize  busy  and  practical  communities.  In 
a  word,  the  Illinois  student  is  industrious  and  energetic, 
Jisk.  but  a  little  wanting  in  imagination.  He  bends  himself 
to  his  semester's  task  with  full  realization  that  it  con- 
stitutes one-eighth  of  his  advanced  preparation  for  life 
— such  a  realization  as  many  Eastern  professors  would 
give  all  their  time  to  instil ;  but  he  is  prone  to  think  of 

;>  himself  as  called  upon  to  play  an  average  rather  than 
Sf  high  part  in  life.  The  homes  in  which  most  students 
grow  up,  being  middle-class  homes  with  little  leisure 

^  for  ideals,  dreams,  and  ambitions,  are  partly  responsible 
for  this;  the  youthful  nature  of  most  community  life 

295 


296  STUDENTS  AND  STUDENT  LIFE 

in  Illinois,  with  its  comparative  poverty  of  cultural  and 
civic  institutions,  is  another  cause;  the  businesslike  at- 
mosphere in  which  the  colleges,  especially  those  of  en- 
gineering and  agriculture,  work,  contributes;  and  the 
fact  that  the  students  are  far  from  the  larger  cities  while 
in  college,  and  have  no  opportunity  to  catch  a  quasi- 
competitive  step  with  the  actual  life  into  which  they 
must  plunge — ^to  see  engineering  work,  business,  news- 
paper work,  law,  as  all  these  activities  are  carried  on 
upon  a  large  scale,  and  to  set  their  eyes  upon  the  goals 
in  them  most  worth  while — shares  the  responsibility. 

This  plodding  zeal,  this  combination  of  earnestness 
and  narrowness,  is  being  broken  down  in  both  its  ele- 
ments; the  students  are  neither  quite  so  industriously 
practical  nor  so  limited  in  vision  as  they  were  ten  years 
ago.  The  State  is  growing  richer;  there  are  more  of 
the  prosperous  and  leisurely  youth  of  Chicago  and  St. 
Louis;  the  thickening  ranks  of  women  students  have 
had  a  liberalizing  influence  and  to  a  slight  extent  have 
, lessened  the  businesslike  quality  of  University  work; 
while  the  expanded  scope  of  the  curriculum,  the  varied 
personality  of  the  faculty,  the  greater  richness  of  life 
at  the  University  now  that  it  has  become  a  major  State 
center,  broaden  the  student 's  interests  while  they  dull 
his  old  sense  of  the  grim  demands  of  the  world's  work. 
To  induce  the  students  to  look  up  and  about  them  is 
something  worth  every  effort.  It  is  not  to  the  Uni- 
versity's credit  that  so  few  of  the  rank  and  file  of  its 
graduates  have  become  community  leaders;  that  it  has 
yet  made  little  impression  through  its  alumni  on  the 
civic  or  cultural  side  of  the  State.  The  graduate  of 
Wisconsin  or  Michigan  might  be  adjudged  to  have 
brought  from  his  college,  thus  far,  a  higher  average  of 
altruism  and  the  impulse  to  democratic  leadership.    But 


UNDERGRADUATE  QUALITIES  297 

this  is  being  changed;  and  it  must  be  hoped  that  the 
change  can  be  effected  without  unduly  lessening  the 
earnestness  of  which  so  many  observers  speak.  It  is 
this  earnestness  which  is  responsible  for  the  high  level 
of  practical  success  reached  by  Illinois  students  as  a 
whole — and  of  course  few  men  can  serve  themselves 
without  serving  others.  The  faculty,  those  in  a  position 
to  influence  student  activities,  the  student  leaders  them- 
selves, have  a  difficult  responsibility  in  introducing  a 
higher  degree  of  freedom  and  ambition  into  Illinois  life, 
and  yet  excluding  any  trace  of  the  dilettante  spirit  that 
so  often  accompanies  it. 

The  practical  quality  of  undergraduate  life  is  no- 
where better  manifested  than  in  the  student  activities. 
The  periodicals  best  edited  and  supported  are  the  Illini, 
which  is  a  profitable  and  workmanlike  newspaper — one 
of  the  best  college  newspapers  in  the  country ;  the  Tech- 
nograpli  and  the  Illinois  Agriculturist.  The  clubs  which 
most  evidently  contribute  to  the  equipment  of  the 
student,  and  are  closest  linked  to  his  classroom  work — 
the  engineering  clubs,  law  clubs,  and  so  on — are  sup- 
ported with  a  spirit  almost  unknown  in  others.  That 
highly  characteristic  entertainment,  the  electrical  show, 
involves  an  amount  of  educative  labor  at  which  the 
students  would  rebel  were  it  given  them  as  a  classroom 
task.  There  is  also,  of  course,  another  salient  element 
in  student  life — the  element  having  its  birth  in  the  de- 
mand for  pure  fun  and  relaxation.  The  students  have 
no  better  regular  amusement  in  the  towns  than  the 
moving  pictures  and  second-rate  vaudeville.  They  must 
fall  back  on  their  own  resources,  and  they  do  so  in  a 
rollicking  way  in  the  annual  circus,  the  post-exam 
jubilee,  the  stunt  show,  and  a  number  of  organizations 
designed  for  milder  amusement.    For  the  same  reason, 


298         STUDENTS  AND  STUDENT  LIFE 

upon  athletics  is  concentrated  an  attention  unusual  in 
larger  centers.  The  third  element  in  student  life,  that 
which  caters  to  the  artistic  or  intellectual  instincts — 
literature,  drama,  art,  music,  serious  discussions  of 
special  topics — was  until  six  or  eight  years  ago  starved 
in  comparison  with  these  two,  and  is  just  now  coming 
into  due  place. 

To  say  that  athletics  receives  a  rare  degree  of  atten- 
tion does  not  mean  that  under  the  circumstances  it 
takes  an  undue  part  of  the  student's  time.  The  under- 
graduate, with  little  of  the  theater,  no  excursions,  no 
town  dinners,  and  few  concerts,  naturally  looks  forward 
with  eagerness  to  the  football  games  or  baseball  matches 
that  give  him  a  regular  Saturday  afternoon  thrill.  The 
Home-coming  and  Interseholastic  festivities  are  centered 
in  a  football  game  and  a  baseball  and  track  contest 
respectively,  and  in  these  the  presence  of  thousands  of 
alumni  and  other  visitors  helps  to  generate  a  wildly 
exciting  interest.  Much  is  said  about  the  unusual 
quality  of  "Illinois  spirit" ;  in  large  part  it  is  simply  the 
student's  unusual  interest  in  the  most  widely  appealing 
event,  a  battle  between  the  home  team  and  a  rival.  But 
this  interest  in  a  half  dozen  baseball  and  as  many  foot- 
ball contests  is  thoroughly  healthy,  for  it  takes  little 
time  and  it  in  no  way  militates  against  the  general- 
participation  of  students  in  athletic  activities  of  their 
own.  President  James  has  repeatedly  expressed  the 
fear  that  the  students  were  becoming  too  largely  spec- 
tators of,  too  little  partners  in,  athletics ;  but  with  con- 
stant encouragement  from  the  authorities,  the  students 
have  tried  to  shake  off  this  imputation.  The  teams 
usually  practice  and  play  on  Illinois  Field,  and  the 
inexpert  have  the  wide  south  campus  to  themselves. 
On  fine  days  it  is  inspiring  to  see  this  stretch  alive 


WAYS  OF  EXERCISING  299 

with  class  teams,  fraternity  teams,  literary  society  and 
other  club  teams,  and  teams  informally  mustered.  The 
campus  offers  two  score  tennis  courts,  and  there  is  a 
good  golf  course.  Time  was  when  the  University, 
chiefly  through  Hindu  students,  mustered  a  creditable 
soccer  team.  Lacrosse  is  played,  and  handball,  while 
any  fine  day  sees  a  string  of  cross-country  runners 
lengthening  out  to  the  country  roads.  In  this  connec- 
tion it  must  be  said  that  no  student  has  for  many  years 
left  without  appreciation  of  the  services  to  the  whole 
institution  of  George  Huff,  not  merely  as  an  efficient 
director  of  athletics,  but  as  a  man  whose  influence  upon 
the  moral  standards  of  members  of  University  teams 
has  been  of  the  highest  sort. 

Six  years  ago  Director  Huff  estimated  that  not  more 
than  one-fourth  the  students  obtained  adequate  physical 
exercise  through  participation  in  athletics.  But  this 
fraction  is  not  discreditable,  and  it  has  been  increased 
since.  Athletics  was  long  encouraged  by  the  excusing 
of  all  members  of  University  teams  from  military  drill, 
and  still  is  by  a  connection  between  class-team  man- 
agers and  the  athletic  association.  In  the  spring 
at  least,  practically  every  male^  student  is  under  con- 
stant invitation  to  join  some  class,  club,  or  other  group 
game;  for  in  spring  the  vogue  of  outdoor  sports  is  at 
its  greatest.  The  winter  offers  no  sports,  as  it  does 
farther  north,  for  during  much  of  it  the  University  is 
deep  in  mud,  not  snow  or  ice ;  and  the  impulse  to  enjoy 
the  returning  good  weather  is  irresistible.  A  time- 
honored  and  yet  spontaneous  institution  is  the  "spring 
celebration"  which  breaks  forth  on  the  first  night  that 
appeals  to  the  student  imagination  as  sufficiently  balmy, 
and  sends  an  hilarious  mob  snake-dancing  downtown  to 
mark  the  advent  of  the  season.    Baseball,  too,  with  its 


c 


300  STUDENTS  AND  STUDENT  LIFE 

peculiar  hold  at  Illinois,  is  played  far  more  in  the 

spring  than  in  the  autumn.     The  one  step  that  would 

do  a  great  deal  to  increase  student  exercise  is  evident: 

if  a  really  adequate  gymnasium,  with  a  large  indoor 

^    field  like  Northwestern 's,  were  provided,  the  number  of 

\    students  who  would  carry  their  roommates  off  to  a 

*     "work-out"  in  it  would  be  doubled  or  trebled.    The  use 

of  both  the  old  and  the  new  Armories  for  athletics, 

however,  is  helping  solve  the  problem. 

But  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  other  factors  than 
formal  athletics  contribute  to  the  physical  welfare  of 
Illinois  students.  The  undergraduates  do  not  flock  from 
neighboring  apartment  houses,  but  from  dwelling  and 
fraternity  houses  that  cover  several  square  miles.  The 
procession  that  fills  Green  or  John  Streets  as  the 
students  turn  out  for  eight  or  ten  o'clock  classes,  over- 
flowing the  sidewalks  into  the  roadway,  reaches  three- 
quarters  of  a  mile  from  the  campus.  The  campus  itself 
is  roomy,  and  the  student  who  has  successive  classes  in 
the  engineering  shops,  Farm  Mechanics  Building,  and 
Natural  History  Building  has  covered  more  than  a  mile. 
For  the  lower  classes  military  drill,  week  in  and  week 
(  out,  with  its  route-step  march  to  the  south  campus,  its 
exhibition  drills,  its  elaborate  maneuverings  and  mock- 
battles,  provides  a  fair  measure  of  exercise.  The  civil 
engineering  students  have  surveying  tasks  that  carry 
them  over  campus  and  field ;  and  picnics  to  Homer  Park 
on  the  Vermilion  twenty  miles  away,  or  to  Crystal  Lake 
on  the  outskirts  of  Urbana,  are  frequent  during  the 
week-ends  of  fall  and  spring.  It  is  a  rare  student  who 
on  business  or  pleasure  does  not  tramp  to  one  of  the 
city  centers,  a  mile  from  the  campus,  two  or  three  times 
weekly.  In  the  warm  Mays  and  in  summer  there  are 
campus  "sings"  and  concerts  that  draw  students  out- 


JOURNALISM  OF  SORTS  301 

doors  at  night.  And  no  small  place,  finally,  must  be 
given  to  dancing,  whether  the  student  elects  to  go  to  a 
Union  dance  for  a  small  admission  at  College  or  Brad- 
ley's Hall,  to  a  fraternity  dance,  to  a  cadet  hop,  or  to 
one  of  the  grander  balls — the  Junior  Prom  or  Sopho- 
more Cotillion,  when  hundreds  of  dollars  are  spent  on 
decorations  for  the  old  Armory,  an  orchestra  and  caterer 
are  brought  from  Chicago,  and  250  couples  dance  till 
two  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

Next  to  athletics,  the  greatest  student  effort  goes  into 

journalism.  If  there  is  a  total  of  nearly  150  men  upon 
the  first  and  second  teams  in  the  various  sports,  there 
is  a  total  of  nearly  100  on  the  staffs  of  the  various  pub- 
lications. These  are  unfortunately  still  less  the  product 
of  inclusive  organizations  than  they  should  be,  for  it 
is  a  rare  editor  or  business  manager  who  can  persuade 
more  than  a  half  dozen  students  really  to  w^ork  well. 
The  mini  office  was  formerly  in  the  Law  Building,  but  it 
is  now  in  quarters  more  spacious,  if  as  low  and  dark, 
in  the  basement  of  University  Hall:  quarters  where 
with  profits  of  over^5,000  yearly  it  is  replacing  dingy 
and  scarred  desks,  battered  typewriters,  and  worn  file- 
shelves  by  furniture  of  more  attractive  sort.  Copy  is 
all  turned  in  and  sent  to  the  downtown  printing 
office  by  nine  or  ten  o'clock,  and  the  heroic  editor, 
thanks  to  two  linotype  machines,  has  usually  put  his 
edition  to  bed  by  twelve — in  contrast  to  those  of  former 
days,  who  perspired  in  shirt  sleeves  at  setting  heads 
and  arranging  forms  while  the  single  machine  clinked 
drearily  away  till  two  o'clock.  The  lot  of  the  business 
manager  is  easier,  for  his  task  of  obtaining  advertise- 
ments from  the  local  merchants  can  be  done  by  day — 
and  it  is  a  bold  and  pinchbeck  merchant  who  refuses  to 
advertise.    The  officials  have  ruled  that  a  full  fourth  of 


302         STUDENTS  AND  STUDENT  LIFE 

the  paper  must  be  news  matter,  a  reminder  of  the  day 
when  it  was  not.  As  a  purveyor  of  intelligence,  the 
mini  has  improved  steadily  since  the  filling  up  of  the 
course  in  journalism,  but  the  quality  of  its  editorials 
and  its  humorous  column — the  ''Chuckler"  once,  the 
"Campus  Scout"  now — depends  on  the  advent  of  some 
bright  writer.  The  year  book,  too,  has  improved  since 
the  selection  of  editor  and  manager  by  a  student-faculty 
board.  In  its  political  days  the  helmsmen  of  both  pub- 
lications, popularly  chosen,  were  often  studentj^  wUh 
more  suavity  than  brains. 

But  below  certain  levels  the  Illini  and  Illio,  with  their 
fixed  traditions,  have  never  fallen.  The  magazine,  the 
Illinois,  while  usually  fair  and  sometimes  excellent,  has 
twice  or  thrice  descended  to  a  plane  where  it  had  better 
not  have  been  published  at  all.  Its  besetting  vice  is  a 
tendency  to  exalt  journalistic  appeal  above  literary 
standards.  The  Agriculturist  is  edited  with  more  vital- 
ity, and  its  technical  articles  invariably  exhibit  special 
knowledge  and  care  in  its  presentation,  while  the  con- 
stant interest  of  the  faculty  assists  in  keeping  its  pages 
full.  It  is  published  with  an  eye  to  the  interests  not 
merely  of  the  college  but  of  the  general  farming  world, 
and  there  are  many  farm  journals  that  contain  less  of 
original  and  valuable  matter.  To  a  limited  extent  it  is 
subsidized  by  the  college.  Though  a  thinner  publica- 
tion, the  Teclinograpli  is  in  quality  quite  as  good,  for  the 
editorial  board  prevents  it  from  reflecting  the  uneven- 
ness  of  the  work  done  in  the  engineering  societies.  Its 
contents  are  not  so  amateurish  as  are  many  literary 
papers  in  the  Illinois,  nor  so  scrappy  as  are  many  of 
the  contributions  to  the  Agriculturist.  The  Siren,  con- 
sidering that  in  years  it  is  a  mere  infant,  has  been  re- 
markably successful.    It  will  doubtless  be  stable,  for  as 


THE  LARGEST  CADET  CORPS  303 

the  Agriculturist  and  Teclinograph  appeal  to  the  prac- 
tical side  of  the  Illinois  student,  it  appeals  to  his  craving 
for  amusement. 

Though  a  required  course  for  all  but  law  students, 
and  not  an  undergraduate  activity  at  all,  military  train- 
ing plays  an  important  part  in  shaping  all  student  life. 
It  is  accepted  with  remarkable  zest,  for  the  brigade 
drills  with  a  spirit  and  conscientiousness  unknown  at 
most  land  grant  institutions ;  and  it  is  the  most  leveling 
of  University  processes.  The  2,200  students  who  pour 
in  at  the  Armory  door  represent  all  sorts  and  condi- 
tions: the  son  of  the  millionaire  beside  that  of  the  vil- 
lage blacksmith,  the  engineer  beside  the  "lit,"  the 
fraternity  man  beside  the  "barb,"  the  raw  freshman 
beside  the  sophomore.  The  men  who  appear  a  mo- 
ment later  in  trim  uniformed  ranks  wheeling  endlessly 
out  on  the  parade  ground  are  one  body,  as  closely  unified 
a  crowd  as  Tarde  ever  classified,  the  only  distinctions 
those  of  height  and  military  rank.  The  brigade  is  com- 
plete, from  artillerymen  and  stretcher  corps  to  wig- 
wagging signalmen,  and  it  is  completely  at  the  command 
of  the  student  colonel.  For  weeks  at  a  time  the  com- 
mandant detailed  by  the  United  States  Army  might  not 
approach  the  drill  ground,  and  military  training  would 
move  on  as  smoothly  as  ever;  for  the  sense  of  responsi- 
bility on  the  part  of  the  officers  is  perfect.  Competition 
is  keen  for  the  University  and  Hazelton  medals,  given  to 
the  best  drilled  students  (on  spring  nights  odd  corners 
of  the  campus  are  vocal  with  aspirants  being  put 
through  the  manual  of  arms  by  friends),  and  for  the 
best  record  in  company  drill  and  marksmanship,  the 
medals  being  awarded  on  Military  Day.  The  sham 
battle  of  late  spring,  when  one  company  after  another 
of  khaki-  or  gray-clad  cadets  storms  the  ridges  below 


304  STUDENTS  AND  STUDENT  LIFE 

the  south  campus,  has  competitive  elements  and  brings 
out  large  crowds  of  townspeople.  A  proud  part  of  the 
battalion  is  the  first  military  band  of  eighty  pieces,  with 
a  fife  and  drum  corps  that  swells  it  above  one  hundred — 
a  band  that  dwarfs  any  other  in  the  State. 

The  brigade  at  Illinois  is  the  largest  cadet  corps  in 
^the  United  States,  consistirig  of  two  regiments  of  twelve 
companies  each,  of  two  bands,  of  a  battery  of  field 
artillery,  of  a  signal  company,  engineer  company,  hos- 
pital company,  and  foot  company.  Under  the  National 
Defense  Act  of  1916  uniforms  are  furnished  by  the 
Federal  Government,  and  with  the  provision  under  this 
act  for  the  establishment  of  one  or  more  units  of  the 
Senior  Division  of  the  Reserve  Officers  Corps,  the  num- 
ber of  United  States  Army  officers  stationed  at  the 
University  rose  to  twelve.  Students  who  enter  these 
units  devote  four  years  to  drill,  instead  of  two,  giving 
five  hours  weekly  during  the  last  two  to  military  art,  and 
they  must  twice  attend  a  month's  summer  training  camp ; 
it  is  believed  that  they  will  emerge  from  this  training 
excellent  officers.  The  University  has  a  Rifle  Club  with  a 
membership  of  nearly  two  hundred,  and,  in  general,  the 
interest  of  the  students  in  military  training  is  probably 
equaled  only  at  a  few  of  the  other  land  grant  institu- 
tions— it  is  certainly  surpassed  at  none.  Some  of  the 
commandants,  as  the  old  Indian-fighter  E.  G.  Fechet 
(1900-09),  have  been  hugely  popular. 

Of  the  other  activities,  oratory  and  debate  are  slowly 
gaining  a  better  place.  The  literary  societies  have  de- 
voted themselves  almost  entirely  to  these  forms  of  the 
''literary,"  leaving  special  clubs  to  pursue  the  short 
story  and  the  technical  paper;  while,  as  in  Gregory's 
day,  they  keep  alive  a  good  many  social  activities.  The 
intercollegiate  debating  contests  seldom  draw  more  than 


FRATERNITIES  305 

a  small  number  to  the  Auditorium,  and  this  is  not 
strange ;  for  few  students  find  many  elements  of  the  en- 
tertaining in  such  debates  as  they  are  ordinarily  con- 
ducted. But  competition  is  keen  for  the  teams,  and  this 
is  all  that  can  be  asked. 

The  fraternity  has  had  a  phenomenal  development  at 
Illinois,  traceable  to  the  fact  that  it  is  much  more  than  a 
club ;  for  it  is  a  home  which  takes  the  place  of  the  dreary 
small-town  boarding  house,  and  offers  many  comforts 
and  a  picked  companionship  at  low  cost.  The  University 
would  be  a  crowded  and  more  cheerless  place  without  it. 
The  last  fifteen  years  have  seen  one  club  after  another 
obtain  a  national  charter  until  the  supply  is  almost  ex- 
hausted, and  the  next  ten  will  doubtless  see  the  roster 
of  local  fraternities  keep  pace  with  the  increasing  regis- 
tration. The  internal  organization  is  usually  good,  and 
in  all  are  upper-classmen  who  take  seriously  the  obliga- 
tion to  look  after  the  younger  men,  and  to  maintain 
standards  of  scholarship.  As  fraternity  men,  who  are 
_one-fifth_of  the  student  body,  engage  in  more  extra- 
curricular activities  than  others,  their  scholastic  aver- 
ages are  lower,  but  not  glaringly  so.  The  dean  of  men 
has  repeatedly  found  fault  with  them  for  various  rea- 
sons. Some  pay  too  much  attention  to  social  parties — a 
more  masculine  atmosphere  would  benefit  them.  The 
''rushing"  and  pledging  of  men  is  hastily  done,  and 
the  preference  for  city  over  country  students  too 
marked.  The  alumni  take  too  little  interest  in  the  fra- 
ternities. Yet  there  is  no  gainsaying  the  democracy  of 
fraternity  life,  and  the  fact  that  the  men  are  not  clan- 
nish, are  more  cordial  than  many  diffident  outsiders, 
and  have  a  greater  public  spirit  in  regard  to  Uni- 
versity life.  The  dean  testifies  also  to  the  ease  with 
which  disciplinary  care  is  exercised  over  the  fraterni- 


306  STUDENTS  AND  STUDENT  LIFE 

ties.  "I  have  always  found  the  fraternity  man  willing 
to  come  halfway.  As  a  college  disciplinary  officer  I 
long  ago  discovered  that  men  in  a  fraternity  are  more 
easily  gotten  at  than  men  outside.  The  reason  is  evi- 
dent :  if  a  man  is  in  an  organization  it  is  not  only  possi- 
ble to  get  at  him  personally,  but  one  may  enlist  as 
helpers  all  the  other  men."  The  publication  of  fra- 
ternity scholastic  averages  by  the  dean  has  had  a  salu- 
tary effect. 

In  their  beginnings  the  fraternities  rented  rooms  over 
the  stores  downtown ;  later  they  moved  into  frame  resi- 
dences; and  since  1906,  when  Alpha  Tau  Omega  com- 
pleted the  first  distinctive  fraternity  house  at  a  cost  of 
$26,000,  a  score  of  large  structures  have  gone  up.  Two 
large  houses  in  Old  English  style  cost  respectively 
$18,000  and  $25,000,  exclusive  of  sites  and  furnishings. 
One  in  Italian  Renaissance  cost  $22,500,  one  in  Colonial 
style  $33,000,  and  others  have  ranged  in  expense  be- 
tween $15,000  and  $35,000.  While  usually  occupied  to 
crowding,  these  have  many  little  luxuries  lacking  in 
dormitories,  from  billiard  rooms  to  libraries.  The  Uni- 
versity has  never  seen  fit,  as  at  Northwestern,  to  en- 
courage fraternity  building,  and  it  has  never  been  neces- 
sary, the  alumni  assuming  readily  the  financial  re- 
sponsibility. 

Of  the  male  students  about  thirty-five  per  cent,  earn 
a  part  of  all  of  their  expenses,  and  it  is  eloquent  of 
the  democracy  of  the  undergraduates  that  about  one- 
fourth  of  these  are  fraternity  men.  In  Gregory's  time 
those  who  were  poor,  following  Scotch  example,  brought 
their  potatoes  and  corn-meal  in  order  to  "bach  it." 
Now  they  act  as  commissaries  or  waiters  at  boarding 
houses,  work  on  the  farm,  serve  as  janitors,  clerks,  or 
Btenographers,  as  salesmen,  laundry  collectors,  or  so- 


1 

1 

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THE  GIRLS'  LOT  307 

licitors,  or  find  expert  employment  as  draughtsmen  or 
student  assistants  in  laboratories.  Bricklayers,  barbers, 
carpenters,  all  attend  the  University.  A  few  years  ago 
several  farmers'  sons  borrowed  the  family  cows,  drove 
them  to  the  University,  and  lived  comfortably  and  inde- 
pendently during  their  college  course  by  selling  milk 
morning  and  evening.  But  student  opinion  and  the 
attitude  of  the  authorities  favor  the  principle  that  no 
man  not  driven  to  it  by  necessity  should  rob  his  studies" 
and  his  leisure  of  the  time  required  to  make  a  partial 
living. 

The  life  of  the  Illinois  girl  has  improved  greatly  in 
that  the  larger  number  of  women  has  made  friendships 
of  a  congenial  sort  easier,  adapted  the  University  at- 
mosphere to  feminine  life,  and  created  a  set  of  distinc- 
tively feminine  activities.  Some  years  ago  life  for 
those  who  could  find  no  place  in  the  sororities  or  church 
dormitories  was  often  distinctly  unpleasant,  and  the 
conviction  that  something  must  be  done  to  improve  it 
was  responsible  for  the  decision  to  build  a  Residence 
Hall  in  1916.  The  complacent  acceptance  of  the  princi- 
1)1^  laid  down  by  Michigan  for  younger  State  universi- 
ties that  the  outside  life  of  students  required  no  official 
provision  was  responsible  for  a  considerable  amount  of 
real  misery.  It  meant  that  a  girl  in  a  boarding  house 
had  to  endure  not  merely  many  physical  hardships,  but 
was  sentenced  by  environment,  in  many  cases,  to  a 
starved  social  life.  A  survey  of  living  conditions  by 
the  Dean  of  Women  several  years  ago  disclosed  the  fact 
that  a  few  houses  were  dirty,  a  very  few  had  vermin, 
and  a  large  number  were  ugly  and  ill-furnished.  A 
prime  cause  of  discomfort  was  inadequate  bathroom  fa- 
cilities, and  in  her  report  we  read  that  "the  average 
number  o|_^rls  to  one  bathroom  is  eight."    The  paucity" 


308  STUDENTS  AND  STUDENT  LIFE 

of  rooms  for  general  social  purposes  was  also  marked. 
One  parlor  usually  served  seven  or  eight  girls,  and  at 
week-ends  all  but  one,  if  so  many  had  callers,  had  to  take 
their  guests  walking.  Of  four  of  the  best  rooming 
houses  in  the  towns,  one  landlady  reported  "little  so- 
cial life  in  the  house,  but  the  girls  go  out  some";  an- 
other, "little  social  life  inside,  girls  go  out  a  good 
deal";  two,  "very  little  social  life  either  inside  or  out- 
side." It  is  an  eloquent  fact  that  approximately  one- 
third  of  the  girls  were  found  to  have  changed  their 
addresses  during  the  college  year.  Of  late,  the  super- 
vision of  rooming  houses  has  been  very  strict,  and 
matters  have  improved.  But  general  university  experi- 
ence has  shown  that  residence  halls  may  easily  be  made 
self-supporting,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  first  one 
at  Illinois  will  be  welcomed  by  both  the  students  and 
their  parents.  As  sorority  members  have  sometimes 
made  felt  their  condescension  to  students  outside,  the 
fact  that  a  large  number  may  now  elect  to  live  in  the 
Residence  Hall  rather  than  in  sororities  will  be  also  a 
salutary  restorer  of  democracy. 

A  large  number  of  girls  at  the  University  are  sub- 
jected to  the  temptation  to  attend  more  parties  than  are 
consistent  with  preservation  of  their  scholarly  standing 
or  health,  for  the  proportion  of  girls  to  men  is  one  to 
five,  and  the  attitude  of  the  men  one  of  greater  friendli- 
ness than  at  most  coeducational  institutions.  The 
temptation  is  usually  resisted,  and  on  the  whole  coedu- 
cation has  proved  a  success.  The  mingling  of  the  sexes 
accentuates  and  confirms  the  manliness  of  the  one  and 
the  womanliness  of  the  other;  certainly  there  is  no 
affectation  of  effeminacy  among  the  men,  as  at  some 
men's  colleges,  or  of  mannishness  among  the  women,  as 
at  some  women's  colleges.    The  preponderance  of  women 


THE  DEAN  OF  MEN  309 

in  some  of  the  liberal  arts  classes  has  had  little  percep- 
tible effect  in  driving  the  men  into  others  of  assnmedly 
stiffer  requirements,  as  some  theorists  on  coeducation 
declare  it  always  does.  If  the  women  were  regarded  as 
they  are  at  some  large  coeducational  universities,  or  at 
some  men's  universities  with  women's  colleges  near,  the 
moral  effects  of  coeducation  might  be  doubtful;  but 
they  are  regarded  as  equals,  though  with  the  right  touch 
of  gallantry. 

The  University's  surveillance  over  student  life  is 
steadily  becoming  closer,  for  as  the  undergraduate  body 
grows  and  its  activities  become  more  complex,  a  laissez- 
faire  policy  becomes  less  and  less  feasible.  The  most 
intimate  and  yet  flexible  guardianship  of  the  students 
is  exercised  from  the  offices  of  the  deans  of  men  and 
women.  The  duties  of  each  are  the  same,  but  the  obedi- 
ence of  the  women  is  so  much  readier  that  in  discipliliai'y 
functions  Dean  Clark  has  almost  monopolized  the  field. 
The  student  who  misses  classes,  or  fails  in  studies,  or 
hazes,  or  smokes  on  the  campus,  or  drinks,  or  joins  an 
organization  of  secret  membership,  or  commits  any  other 
infraction,  appears  at  once  in  the  dean's  office.  Through 
years  of  experience  the  dean  has  developed  a  remark- 
able tact  and  shrewdness,  enabling  him  to  see  through 
any  sham.  At  least  one  parent  of  almost  every  student 
punished  at  the  University,  he  tells  us,  is  always  repre- 
sented by  the  culprit  as  in  some  physical,  mental,  or 
financial  condition  which  will  prove  instantly  fatal  if 
his  disgrace  becomes  known.  He  remembers  instances 
of  parents  who  have  assured  an  expelled  son  in  his 
presence  that  never  again  would  they  assist  one  who 
had  erred  so  persistently,  and  who  in  another  month 
have  taken  him  to  their  hearts  again.  He  tells  us  that 
the  man  who  whines  in  accepting  his  punislunent  is 


310         STUDENTS  AND  STUDENT  LIFE 

rare,  and  that  those  he  sends  away  from  the  University 
often  have  a  peculiar  kindness  for  him;  realizing  that 
his  punishment  turned  them  in  time  from  wrongdoing, 
they  are  constantly  writing,  or  sending  him  the  baby's 
picture.  The  efforts  of  influential  parents  to  have  sons 
given  a  second  or  third  trial  often  exasperate.  He 
tells  of  foreign  students  who  did  wrong  and  then  con- 
fessed in  sudden  shame,  not  for  themselves,  but  for 
their  country.  Finally,  his  memory  has  its  due  in- 
stances of  youths  who  have  won  mercy  by  their  manly 
facing  of  the  consequences  of  an  offense. 

The  value  of  the  hint  which  this  office  of  the  dean 

of  men,  originating  at  Illinois,  has  given  to  university 
administrators,  may  be  gauged  from  the  fact  that  in 
recent  years  its  counterpart  has  been  established  in  a 
dozen  large  institutions.  Its  main  function  is  by  no 
means  the  disciplinary  one ;  having  charge  of  student 
activities  and  general  social  life,  class  attendance,  and 
the  progress  and  interests  of  individual  students,  the 
dean  is  concerned  with  building  up  an  attitude  of  under- 
graduate trust  and  friendliness,  rather  than  one  of  fear. 
The  office  is  much  more  that  of  a  wise  and  kindly  ad- 
visor than  of  a  corrector.  The  dean  tries  with  success 
to  come  into  personal  contact  with  every  student  who 
reaches  the  University,  and  to  make  felt  his  special  in- 
terest in  the  latter 's  health,  studies,  and  character.  It 
is  because  of  his  activities  that  there  is  probably  a 
greater  harmony  among  the  fraternities  than  among 
those  of  any  other  large  institution;  and  it  is  largely 
due  to  them  that  there  is  far  less  drinking,  less  gam- 
bling, and  less  general  dissoluteness  about  the  Uni- 
versity than  about  the  average  great  place  of  higher 
education. 

One  of  the  most  encouraging  aspects  of  student  life 


ROWDYISM  DISAPPEARS  311 

has  been  the  gradual  decline  of  hazing  and  of  the  rough 
celebrations  of  afhletic  victories  in  which  the  students 
once  indulged.  The  history  of  freshman-sophomore 
animosities  at  Illinois  is  a  long  and  not  a  pleasant  one. 
In  Peabody's  and  Burrill's  time  the  freshmen  were 
accustomed  to  hold  a  dance  in  one  of  the  downtown 
halls,  and  for  ten  years  it  was  usual  for  the  sophomores 
to  try  to  break  it  up  by  kidnapping  their  enemies  or 
throwing  eggs  or  chemicals,  just  as  till  the  abolition  of 
the  junior  exhibition  the  sophomores  tried  to  disrupt 
it  also.  After  the  culmination  of  these  disturbances  in 
the  expulsion  of  nine  men  in  1895,  the  color  rush,  which 
had  been  initiated  in  1891,  and  which  came  to  be  held 
at  night,  took  their  place.  There  was  so  much  slugging 
at  these  rushes  that  in  1903  Dean  Clark  brought  the 
contest  into  the  open,  and  it  was  held  under  strictly 
enforced  rules.  It  might  have  been  long  retained  had 
not  the  classes  become  so  large  that  the  freshmen  be- 
came absolutely  certain  of  winning,  and  in  1908  the 
pushball  contest  was  instituted  on  Illinois  Field — inex- 
pert management  of  the  first  one  resulting  in  a  long 
list  of  the  injured.  As  the  classes  continued  to  grow 
larger,  the  physical  danger  to  individuals  increased,  and 
in  1913  the  sack  rush,  which  divided  the  crowd,  was 
introduced.  During  all  these  years  the  opposition  of 
the  authorities  to  hazing  had  grown  more  decided,  and 
President  James  began  his  administration  with  a  deter- 
mination to  stamp  it  out  by  stern  expulsions.  So  well 
did  he  preach  against  it  that  the  sophomore  classes 
repeatedly  adopted  resolutions  denouncing  it,  though 
offenses  were  for  some  years  flagrant.  In  1908  a  special 
effort  was  made  to  instil  sentiment  in  favor  of  begin- 
ning and  ending  hostilities  with  the  pushball  contest. 
The  next  spring  Dean  Clark  addressed  a  special  warn- 


312  STUDENTS  AND  STUDENT  LIFE 

ing  to  freshmen  against  participation  in  hazing  on 
their  return,  and  the  succeeding  fall  the  early  sus- 
pension of  a  few  hazers  deterred  the  men  from  later 
outbreaks.  Finally,  in  1913  the  unworthy  tradition  had 
dropped  almost  out  of  eight.  A  little  later,  there 
seemed  to  be  a  waning  of  interest  in  even  the  sack  fight, 
and  in  1915  the  Alumni  Quarterly  expressed  a  general 
opinion  when  it  compared  it  to  a  mattress  factory  work- 
ing overtime,  and  called  it  childish.  There  were  no 
mourners  when  Dean  Clark  abolished  it.  As  for  hazing, 
the  Quarterly  then  saw  it  going  the  way  of  the  charivari : 
"If  any  freshman  was  boneyarded  this  fall,  the  splash 
was  pretty  feeble.  It  is  doubtful  that  the  old  verb  haze 
will  ever  recover. ' ' 

The  same  sense  that  mature  students  should  be  above 
rowdyism  was  responsible  for  the  decay  of  athletic  cele- 
brations in  their  old  character.  At  one  time  they  added 
to  something  like  the  spectacular  enthusiasm  and  joy 
of  a  political  rally  no  little  downright  turbulence.  The 
celebration  began  calmly  with  a  bonfire  near  the 
campus,  grew  fervent  in  the  course  of  a  noisy  snake- 
dance  downtown,  and  ended  with  a  mob  assault  on  a 
local  theater  for  free  admission.  When  town  hoodlums 
encouraged  its  destructive  bent,  and  the  town  officials 
proved  excitable,  trouble  was  bound  to  ensue.  Follow- 
ing the  Iowa  game  of  1908,  for  example,  the  crowd  that 
surged  at  the  theater  in  Champaign  was  confronted  by 
an  unusually  hot-headed  mayor.  The  police  attempted 
to  defend  the  entrance,  and  as  the  mayor  exhorted  them 
to  "shoot  to  kill,"  bricks  and  clubs  began  to  fly.  In 
the  affray  one  of  the  officers  was  badly  injured,  an  ath- 
lete was  arrested  and  lodged  in  the  Town  Hall,  and 
only  the  timely  appearance  of  the  Dean  of  Men  pre- 
vented the  partial  demolition  of  that  structure.     The 


INTELLECTUAL  CURIOSITY  313 

Chicago  and  other  papers  made  sensational  use  of  such 
affairs,  and  they  hurt  the  University  all  over  the  State, 
so  that  steps  by  the  authorities  were  determinedly  taken 
to  end  them.  In  this  the  Union  assisted,  and  one  class 
tried  to  tame  the  celebrations  by  providing  a  ''celebra- 
tion urn"  on  Illinois  Field — which  was  almost  totally 
ignored.  This  tradition,  too,  was  gradually  forgotten, 
and  the  present  celebrations  combine  vigor  with  order- 
liness. 

As  for  scholarship,  the  best  students  are  the  women, 
and  to  explain  this  we  need  not  discuss  the  mooted  point 
of  mental  and  temperamental  differences  between  the 
sexes.  Relatively  few  women  are  forced  to  be  self- 
supporting  ;  they  may  sidestep  distasteful  courses,  which 
few  men  can  do ;  the  vast  majority  go  to  college  because 
of  an  interest  in  college  work,  while  many  young  men 
are  sent  by  their  parents.  The  University  athletes 
prove  as  good  students  as  the  average,  and  in  general, 
attacks  on  undergraduate  activities  will  find  little  basis 
in  a  study  of  scholastic  marks  at  Illinois.  It  has  clearly 
been  shown  that  club  members,  debaters,  student  jour- 
nalists, the  officers  of  the  cadet  regiment,  of  the  Union, 
and  of  the  Christian  Associations,  hold  better  positions 
in  their  classes  than  those  who  do  not  enter  such  activi- 
ties. This  is  undoubtedly  because  of  their  superior, 
mental  attainments,  and  it  is  true  that  they  could  better 
their  work  if  they  stayed  out  of  the  more  engrossing 
pursuits.  But  it  may  be  believed  that  a  middle  course 
is  best,  and  that  while  the  poorest  students  have  little 
to  do  with  college  activities,  and  the  very  best  also  are 
interested  in  little  outside  of  college  work,  those  who 
engage  moderately  in  extra-curriculum  affairs  obtain 
the  broadest  college  training.  The  chief  reason  for  wish- 
ing that  student  life  were  less  highly  organized  is  that 


314         STUDENTS  AND  STUDENT  LIFE 

these  various  ' '  circus  rings ' '  prevent  the  undergraduates 
from  doing  the  general  reading,  or  from  engaging  in 
the  intellectual  discussion  and  debate,  which  would 
greatly  profit  large  numbers.  The  atmosphere  of  the 
State  University  is  fundamentally  rather  unfavorable  to 
eager,  speculative  minds.  The  earnestness  of  those  who 
value  knowledge  as  a  means  of  getting  on  is  not  encour- 
aging to  the  disinterested  spirits  who  value  it  for  its 
own  sake.  The  trend  is  to  the  practical  consideration 
of  questions  of  forge  and  market  place,  not  to  the  specu- 
lative consideration  of  political,  social,  ethical,  or 
philosophical  topics.  While  the  curriculum  as  a  whole 
must  always  keep  the  emphasis  upon  the  utilitarian, 
there  might  well  be  more  extra-curricular  agencies  to 
divert  the  mind  of  the  student  to  the  purely  cultural. 
It  may  be  of  little  moment  that  the  student  managing 
the  mini  might  have  got  his  lessons  a  little  better  had 
he  been  free,  but  of  a  great  deal  of  moment  that  the 
drain  on  his  time  estops  him  from  reading  the  latest 
book  of  history,  sociology,  or  poetry. 

A  Senate  committee  on  standards  of  scholarship  re- 
ported in  1916  that  nearly  one-half  of  the  faculty  mem- 
(^  bers  questioned  thought  such  standards  lower  at  Illinois 
than  at  one  or  more  institutions  with  which  they  had 
been  connected,  though  others  thought  them  higher  and 
still  others  thought  them  equal  or  superior  as  measured 
by  the  performance  of  the  average  man,  but  inferior  as 
regarded  the  work  of  the  best  students.  Comparisons 
unfavorable  to  Illinois  were  most  frequently  made  by 
the  departments  once  grouped  in  the  college  of  literature 
and  arts.  The  committee's  conclusion  was  that  the 
University's  requirements  did  not  differ  materially 
from  those  of  the  State  universities  which  are  its  nat- 
ural competitors.    It  found,  however,  that  the  authori- 


SCHOLARSHIP  315 

ties  at  Wisconsin  and  Chicago  were  less  conservative 
than  at  Illinois  in  eliminating  incompetent  or  careless 
students,  especially  at  the  end  of  the  first  semester,  and 
it  recommended  a  decreased  tolerance  of  such  students. 
Commending  the  University's  elimination  of  the  class 
of  conditioned  freshmen,  it  proposed  more  exacting 
requirements  of  the  high  schools,  and  the  adoption  of 
measures  which  would  fix  more  clearly  the  responsibility 
of  the  principal  in  certif  jang  his  students  as  prepared 
for  college — many  principals  being  peculiarly  subject  to 
local  pressure.  In  the  attempt  to  reach  the  standards 
of  the  three  or  four  best  Eastern  universities,  stronger 
efforts  should  be  made  to  build  up  "honor  groups,"  to 
stiffen  the  classroom  demand,  and  to  better  the  intel- 
lectual atmosphere.  One  far-reaching  recommendation 
was  that  the  transition  from  "junior-college"  to 
"senior-college"  standing  be  marked  by  something  more 
than  the  simple  completion  of  a  specified  number 
of  semester  hours  and  that  some  form  of  test,  adapted 
to  the  particular  college,  be  instituted  to  determine 
whether  a  student  should  receive  a  certificate  and  be 
promoted  to  the  "senior-college."  Such  a  certificate 
might  ultimately  be  required  for  admission  to  profes- 
sional courses.  It  was  also  proposed  that  the  under- 
graduate curricula  be  reconsidered  with  a  view  to  new 
requirements  for  graduation  at  least  for  honor  students, 
permitting  competent  students  to  pursue  approved  lines 
of  study  with  less  detailed  supervision  but  with  a  new 
form  of  regular  examination;  and  that  to  enforce  in- 
tensive work  the  semester  hours  be  reduced.  Finally, 
$100  and  $50  scholarships  were  proposed,  and  a  more 
earnest  attempt  by  faculty  men  to  put  "intellectual 
deviltry"  into  fraternity  and  club  life. 
For  the  present,  the  University  may  take  comfort  in 


316         STUDENTS  AND  STUDENT  LIFE 

the  fact  that  student  scholarship  has  steadily  improved 
in  the  last  fifteen  years.  Much  of  this  is  traceable  to  the 
emphasis  which  President  James,  assisted  by  a  group  of 
the  faculty,  has  thrown  in  the  years  since  1904  upon 
scholarly  breadth  in  the  curriculum,  as  through  his  readi- 
ness to  make  desirable  appointments  irrespective  of  out- 
ward demand  for  them;  much  to  the  direct  interest  of 
himself  and  this  group  in  undergraduate  standards. 

The  college  year  holds  a  vast  of  various  things  not 
mentioned  in  the  foregoing  summary;  and  it  is  more 
generally  light-hearted  than  it  would  indicate.  The 
essential  spirit  of  the  student  community  baffles  de- 
scription, but  there  is  no  doubt  either  of  its  democracy 
or  optimism.  Despite  the  leaven  from  homes  of  wealth, 
the  social  strata  are  forgotten  more  completely  than 
they  would  be  in  an  older  college  community,  and  the 
students  are  measured  only  by  capacity  and  good- 
fellowship.  The  cheerfulness  of  undergraduate  life  is 
also  assisted  by  its  want  of  sophistication.  The  majority 
of  students,  from  farms,  villages,  and  towns  smaller 
than  Peoria,  are  little  acquainted  with  either  the  vir- 
tues or  vices  of  urban  communities.  It  would  be  hard 
to  say  how  many  freshmen  had  never  seen  a  metro- 
politan theatrical  performance,  or  entered  a  saloon,  or 
visited  a  gay  restaurant,  but  the  number  would  be  very 
large.  This  uuAvorldly  quality  has  its  disadvantage,  in 
that  the  students  are  not  inspired  to  alertness  by  ac- 
quaintance with  the  complex  facets  of  our  civilization; 
but  it  carries  a  fresh  naivete  that  makes  the  University 
a  pleasant  place  for  the  average  impressionable  youth. 

The  autumn  opens  with  the  excitement  of  ''rushing," 
of  football  practice,  and  of  adjustment  to  the  ever- 
changing  University.  The  fine  September  weather  sees 
the  streets  alive  with  automobiles  brought  in  by  fra- 


THE  UNDERGRADUATE  YEAR  317 

ternity  alumni  to  help  win  to  membership  the  fresh- 
man with  money,  athletic  promise,  or  other  engaging 
qualifications,  the  fraternity  houses  thronged  at  night 
with  chatting  men,  and  the  windows  thrown  open  at 
dinner  upon  hospitable  tables.  By  the  end  of  a  fort- 
night the  strenuous  competition  has  resulted  in  the 
pledging  of  300  men.  Four  o'clock  sees  at  one  end  of 
the  campus  sagacious  groups  following  the  squads  that 
dive  for  the  ball  or  that  face  each  other  in  the  first 
line-up.  At  the  other  the  sophomores  are  holding  in 
line  the  awkward  freshmen  who  have  become  the 
matrix  of  the  brigade,  and  junior  and  senior  officers 
bellowing  their  outraged  commands  at  marching  awk- 
wardness. "One!  One!  One!"  Near  by  the  first 
and  second  class  teams  are  scrimmaging,  the  runners 
file  away  over  the  prairie,  and  the  tennis  courts  are  alive 
with  white  figures.  On  the  campus  walks  gather  groups 
lobbying  for  class  elections,  and  at  the  corners  wait 
boarding-house  commissaries,  and  solicitors  for  the  Y. 
M.  C.  A.  and  Athletic  Association ;  while  from  the  Illini 
office  a  dozen  competitors  for  staff  places  issue  at  once. 
The  bulletin  boards  are  bedecked  anew,  the  store  ex- 
hibits are  freshened,  and  on  one  of  the  fine  days  the 
student  body  blackens  upper  Burrill  Avenue  and  is 
swallowed  into  the  Auditorium  for  the  first  convocation. 
Perhaps  once  may  occur  a  good-natured  mauling  of  some 
freshman  who  has  dispensed  with  a  green  cap,  or  a 
caricature  of  the  greenhorn  emerge  in  rustic  clothes 
and  with  carpetbag  seeking  a  cheap  room  at  the  fra- 
ternity houses.  Two  thousand  new  students  are  learn- 
ing the  University  yells,  and  realizing  that  the  patriot- 
ism that  goes  into  shouting  for  Illinois  represents  not 
merely  the  institution  but  the  State. 
A  little  later  comes  the  sorority  pledge  day,  ending 


318         STUDENTS  AND  STUDENT  LIFE 

a  friendly  struggle  conducted  for  just  a  fortnight  under 
rules  of  war  drawn  to  cover  the  minutest  detail.  No 
sorority  may  invite  a  "rushee"  for  more  than  a  care- 
fully limited  number  of  occasions;  none  may  entertain 
her,  except  at  week-ends,  after  seven  o'clock;  none  may 
breathe  a  word  upon  sorority  affairs.  On  the  last  great 
day  invitations  are  sent  out,  answers  received,  and  at 
two  o'clock  the  "rushees"  proceed  to  sorority  homes, 
to  be  kissed  and  rejoiced  over  by  future  sisters,  while 
derisive  male  spectators  imitatively  fall  upon  each 
other's  necks,  shout,  march  past  with  impromptu  or- 
chestras, and  wheel  in  comrades  masquerading  as  girls 
in  barrows,  with  humorous  signs  about  their  necks. 
Later  still  comes  the  first  practice  game  of  football, 
when  a  sweating  team  administers  a  defeat  to  some 
small  neighbor  before  a  lackadaisical  crowd  out  merely 
to  see  how  large  the  score  will  be.  The  first  large  dance 
is  that  of  the  agricultural  college,  with  the  old  Armory 
trimmed  with  leaves  and  corn.  Finally  Home-coming 
rolls  around  in  November,  with  thousands  of  visitors 
packing  the  towns  for  the  week-end.  On  Thursday 
night  a  mass  meeting  is  addressed  by  alumni.  On 
Friday  a  class  championship  game  is  attended  not  only 
by  students  but  by  the  Senior  Hobo  Band,  a  gathering 
of  men  in  dilapidated  costume,  with  others  representing 
toughs,  governors  and  generals,  cartoonists'  creations, 
prize  fighters,  advertising  notabilities  like  the  Gold  Dust 
Twins,  and  a  German  or  Italian  band ;  and  on  Saturday 
there  is  the  great  football  game  with  the  strongest  pos- 
sible University  rival,  witnessed  by  15,000  people.  The 
first  concerts  and  lectures  follow  rapidly,  in  early  De- 
cember comes  the  Junior  Prom,  and  a  week  later  the 
Oratorio  Society  gives  Handel's  "Messiah." 
After   Christmas  basketball,   track,   swimming,   and 


THE  UNDERGRADUATE  YEAR  319 

fencing  sustain  with  some  difficulty  the  interest  in  ath- 
letics. The  post-exam  jubilee,  founded  in  1901  to 
assist  Christian  Association  work,  falls  in  the  inter- 
semester  vacation,  and  is  given  before  a  packed  Audi- 
torium— a  sort  of  college  ** Follies."  In  alternate  years 
the  electrical  show  is  held  in  February  at  an  expense 
of  perhaps  several  thousand  dollars  and  on  floor  space 
of  40,000  square  feet,  with  exhibits  running  from  an 
electrical  kitchen  and  complete  electrical  railway  to  an 
electric  calendar  and  such  devices  as  one  which  fries 
an  egg  on  ice.  The  Military  BaU  comes,  perhaps  with 
the  Governor  in  attendance,  the  student  opera,  the  Irish 
banquet,  the  smokers  that  used  to  hurt  the  reputation 
of  the  University  among  haters  of  tobacco,  and  perhaps 
a  legislative  inspection,  with  as  determined  an  effort 
to  parade  the  University's  weaknesses  as  is  ordinarily 
made  to  conceal  them.  At  some  time  during  the  year  the 
Senior  engineers  start  for  their  inspection  of  Middle 
Western  engineering  establishments  and  advanced  li- 
brary students  are  distributed  among  municipal  libraries 
for  practice  work. 

Spring  is  the  season  that  treats  the  Illinois  landscape 
most  kindly;  and  in  May  the  carefully  gardened 
campus,  with  the  soft  haze  of  morning  over  it,  is  a  scene 
of  delight.  The  student  body  wakes  to  its  greatest 
activity.  There  is  a  steady  succession  of  baseball  vic- 
tories on  Illinois  Field,  the  bleachers  crowded  and  not 
too  complacent  to  cheer.  The  tennis  courts  are  filled 
from  early  morning  till  the  last  light  has  gone  at  night, 
the  chorus  of  the  physical  director's  proteges  echoes 
from  the  open  gymnasium  window,  and  the  brigade, 
now  attaining  a  fine  polish  in  drill,  grounds  arms  in  a 
glittering  line  across  the  south  campus  as  the  band 
plays.    At  night  a  short  band  concert  draws  thousands 


320  STUDENTS  AND  STUDENT  LIFE 

to  the  lawn  in  front  of  the  library,  and  the  fraternity  and 
rooming-house  porches  are  hung  with  swings  by  heavy 
chains  and  massed  with  mandolin-playing  students. 
The  Maypole  dance,  once  a  simple  attraction  on  the  site 
of  the  Woman's  Building,  with  the  spectators  seated 
on  the  grass,  now  a  huge  pageant  that  draws  a  crowd 
to  the  bleachers  to  watch  the  Elizabethan  and  other 
folk  figures,  usually  marks  the  beginning,  on  Thursday, 
of  the  Interscholastic  week-end.  These  days  of  the  Inter- 
scholastic  are  filled  with  more  events  than  those  of 
Home-coming,  and  bringing  to  the  University  not  only 
alumni  but  the  high  school  athletes  of  the  State  and 
their  friends,  draw  an  even  greater  number  of  visitors. 
The  same  evening  sees  the  Stunt  Show  of  the  sororities, 
designed  to  assist  the  Y.  W.  C.  A.,  and  in  nature  like 
the  Post-Exam  Jubilee,  though  usually  more  clever,  and 
always  more  delicately  conceived.  On  Friday  after- 
noon there  is  a  combined  track  meet  and  baseball  game 
on  Illinois  Field,  with  sometimes  an  exhibition  drill, 
and  that  night  the  high  school  oratorical  contest.  Satur- 
day morning  the  athletes  of  nearly  a  hundred  high 
schools  contend  for  first  place;  in  the  afternoon  is  an- 
other ball  game ;  and  at  night  comes  the  Interscholastic 
circus — the  climax  of  the  week.  Opened  by  a  circus 
parade  of  monstrous  and  unheard-of  animals  wabbling 
across  the  Field,  their  eyes  glowing  and  their  nostrils 
breathing  flame,  its  three  rings  with  forty  different  at- 
tractions, its  two  bands,  its  adept  clowns,  and  the  relay 
race  run  by  champions  of  the  different  sororities,  bring 
the  whole  to  a  welcome  close. 

Commencement  is  less  crowded  than  the  two  weeks 
preceding  it.  The  seniors,  graduate  students,  and  faculty 
remain,  but  few  others,  for  the  Illinois  summer  is  too 
busy  to  permit  the  three  lower  classes  to  loiter.    The 


COMMENCEMENT  321 

two  towns  already  begin  to  take  on  a  spacious,  leafy, 
droning  atmosphere.  The  fraternity  houses  are  in  part 
given  up  to  bevies  of  chaperoned  young  ladies,  the  mem- 
bers moving  out  to  make  possible  a  house-party  for  the 
senior  ball.  About  the  campus  there  is  a  preponderance 
of  older  faces,  and  the  streets  are  lined  with  automobiles 
from  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Indianapolis,  and  other  cities. 
Saturday  night — to  give  a  typical  but  not  invariable 
program — the  last  large  informal  dance  is  held  at 
the  old  Armory,  where  the  military  band  plays  a  con- 
cert for  an  hour,  and  the  floor  is  then  cleared  for  waltz 
and  two-step.  During  Sunday  afternoon  the  bacca- 
laureate sermon  is  preached  with  some  formality  by  an 
invited  minister.  On  Monday  are  held  the  traditional 
class-day  exercises,  various  elected  representatives  read- 
ing the  class  history  and  class  poem,  and  the  valedic- 
torian and  salutatorian  appearing ;  while  the  ceremonies 
include  the  Hatchet  Oration,  in  which  a  Senior,  dwelling 
on  the  virtues  of  his  classmates,  delivers  to  the  Junior 
class  the  much-carved  hatchet,  emblem  of  Senior  re- 
sponsibilities. Time  is  also  found  for  the  dedication  of 
the  Senior  memorial,  a  gift  to  the  University  of  drink- 
ing fountain,  stone  seat,  bronze  ornament,  or  other 
permanent  adornment — nowadays  costing  little  less  than 
$2,000.  In  the  afternoon  there  is  a  lawn  concert  by  the 
band,  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  and  Sigma  Xi  addresses,  and 
at  four  o'clock,  a  reunion  of  the  older  classes.  That 
night  the  Mask  and  Bauble  Society  presents  a  play,  and 
in  the  Armory  the  Senior  Ball,  with  the  most  expensive 
music  and  decorations  of  the  year,  lasts  till  two  o'clock. 
Tuesday  is  given  up  in  the  main  to  the  alumni,  with  a 
convocation  in  the  afternoon  and  a  reception  at  night. 
Finally,  on  Wednesday  morning  is  held  the  sparsely 
attended  Senior  breakfast;  and  at  ten  o'clock  the  pro- 


322        STUDENTS  AND  STUDENT  LIFE 

cession  of  graduates  forms,  and  marshaled  by  military 
officers  and  led  by  the  military  band,  with  the  faculty 
and  sometimes  the  Governor  and  his  staff  at  its  head, 
marches  between  two  long  lines  of  spectators  and 
friends,  with  gusts  of  handclapping,  to  the  Armory. 
Its  numbers  have  been  reenforced  by  the  arrival  on 
special  cars  from  Chicago  of  the  graduates  of  the  de- 
partments there.  The  President  or  a  chosen  orator  of 
distinction  speaks,  and  after  the  delivery  of  diplomas, 
the  procession  returns  to  the  stretch  fronting  the  Li- 
brary, where  the  University  song,  "Illinois  Loyalty," 
and  the  State  song,  "By  Thy  Eivers,"  have  their  last 
heartfelt  rendition. 

In  the  feeling  that  moves  every  Senior  as  the  great 
crowd  of  black-gowned  graduates  breaks  up  the  State 
has  its  best  reward  for  the  thousand  dollars  it  is  esti- 
mated to  have  spent  on  everyone  to  whom  it  delivers 
a  diploma.  They  go  forth  that  afternoon  to  all  corners 
of  the  State  and  to  every  trade  and  profession — to  the 
farm,  the  shop,  the  railway,  the  architect's  studio,  the 
newspaper,  the  high  school  and  college  classroom,  the 
counting  office,  the  lawyer's  study;  and  with  the  rarest 
exceptions  they  go  prepared  for  work.  But  it  is  less 
their  skill  that  rewards  the  commonwealth  than  the 
patriotism  that  has  been  unconsciously  bred  in  them  by 
their  four  years  at  the  best  fountain  of  knowledge  the 
State  has  been  able  to  provide ;  their  feeling  that  their 
new  mental  and  moral  equipment,  their  quickened  enthu- 
siasm and  ambitions,  their  sense  of  an  obligation  to  serv- 
ice, are  all  owed,  not  to  some  forgotten  private  benefactor, 
but  to  the  public  idealism  and  the  public  forethought. 


IX 


RELATIONS  BETWEEN  THE  UNIVERSITY  AND 
STATE 

The  Leas  Tangible  Service  of  the  University  to  the  State.  The 
University  as  Regulator  of  the  High  Schools.  Investigative  and 
Extension  Activities  in  Agriculture.  The  Smith-Lever  Act. 
Practical  Engineering  and  Scientific  Investigations.  The  State 
Offices  at  Urbana.  Historical  Work.  Miscellaneous  State 
Services. 

It  is  a  truism  that  the  interest  of  the  average  demo- 
cratic community  in  an  institution  of  higher  education 
never  manifests  itself  in  spontaneous  general  support, 
but  must  be  stimulated.  Certain  groups  may  volun- 
tarily offer  whole-hearted  assistance;  aside  from  them, 
there  is  a  vast  deal  of  indifference  and  inertia  to  be 
overcome.  It  was  twenty  years,  as  we  have  seen,  be- 
fore Illinois  had  commenced  to  overcome  it,  and  more 
than  forty  before  she  had  sufficiently  done  so  to  be 
sure  of  her  future.  She  won  her  way  to  the  hearts  of 
the  people,  in  the  main,  by  turning  out  men  and  women 
skilled  to  serve  them;  by  the  insensible  results  of  her 
purely  educational  activity,  and  the  steady  uplifting  of 
popular  spiritual  and  intellectual  ideals.  To  a  lesser 
extent,  she  has  done  it  through  the  making  of  investiga- 
tions, through  the  construction  of  commercial  and  me- 
chanical devices,  and  through  adding  to  the  material 
resources  of  the  State  in  various  ways. 

The  University  has  never  forgotten  that  its  principal 

323 


324  THE  UNIVERSITY  AND  STATE 

business  is  to  train  young  men  and  women  for  their  life 
activities.  Up  to  1915  it  had  paid  little  attention  to 
extension  instruction,  feeling  that  it  could  not  divide 
its  energies.  It  has  rather  yielded  to  than  encour- 
aged the  efforts  of  commercial  and  civic  bodies  of  the 
State  to  borrow  faculty  members.  When  Prof.  Fairlie, 
completing  his  work  as  director  of  the  State  Economy 
and  Efficiency  Commission,  was  asked  to  undertake 
other  governmental  labors,  he  was  plainly  told  that  he 
was  approaching  the  point  where  he  must  choose  be- 
tween academic  and  public  employment.  Nor  has  the 
University  ever  forgotten  that  even  the  work  of  the 
experiment  stations,  of  its  agencies  in  research,  and  of 
the  State  scientific  offices  connected  with  it  should  be 
made  directly  contributory  to  the  instruction  offered 
graduates  and  undergraduates.  The  unfortunate  ex- 
perience of  neighbors  which  have  gone  too  much  into  the 
streets  and  highways,  or  into  capitol  halls,  commends 
the  sanity  of  this  general  principle.  Presidents  James 
and  Draper  have  both  held  that  the  distinctively  educa- 
tional activities  must  primarily  be  kept  before  the 
people,  and  that  the  extension  lecturer  who  travels 
over  half  the  State  cannot  well  meet  his  classes  at 
home. 

Even  as  it  is,  there  has  been  some  apprehension  that 
the  University  was  going  too  far  in  its  emphasis  upon 
direct  as  opposed  to  intangible  service  to  the  State. 
There  is  danger,  wrote  Dean  Kinley  in  1910,  "that  too 
much  emphasis  will  be  put  upon  this  work,  and  that  it 
will  become  so  important  in  the  eyes  of  the  public,  and 
particularly  of  the  Legislature,  that  it  will  interfere 
with  the  proper  enlargement  of,  and  adequate  appro- 
priations for,  the  educational  work.  It  is  not  an  un- 
common thing  to  hear  criticisms  of  the  large  appropria- 


BETTERING  THE  HIGH  SCHOOLS         325 

tions  made  to  the  University.  The  critics  forget  that 
the  appropriations  include  large  sums  intended  for  work 
done  at  the  University  for  a  direct  service  to  the  State, 
but  having  no  connection  with  the  immediate  and  pri- 
mary work  of  the  University.  .  .  .  Unless  some  care  is 
exercised,  we  are  likely  to  find  ourselves  in  the  position 
of  having  our  principal  work  choked  or  curtailed  from 
insufficient  means,  because  of  too  large  a  proportionate 
increase  of  the  means  devoted  to  other  work."  The  mill 
tax  has  only  in  part  destroyed  the  force  of  this  warning. 
There  is  little  doubt  that,  as  the  mounting  attendance 
at  the  University  will  for  years  tax  its  resources,  the 
mistake  will  not  be  made  of  turning  it  too  largely  into 
a  research  station.  Nor  do  the  people  of  Illinois  demand 
steps  that  might  lead  to  such  a  mistake. 

The  University  is  always  glad  to  call  the  State 's  atten- 
tion to  the  more  evident  of  these  intangible  services. 
There  is  the  plain  fact  that  the  greatest  sculptor  of 
Illinois,  the  half  dozen  best  architects,  the  Representa- 
tive who  has  become  minority  leader  in  Congress,  the 
best  civil  engineers,  several  of  the  most  prominent  jour- 
nalists, practically  all  the  progressive  farmers,  a  number 
of  the  best-known  judges,  and  an  extraordinary  pro- 
portion of  the  school  superintendents,  are  its  graduates. 
The  University  is  too  young  to  have  a  long  roll  of  dis- 
tinguished alumni;  but  it  undoubtedly  has  more  than 
any  other  in  the  State.  It  is  regrettable  that  it  has 
never  yet  had  a  Governor,  nor  a  Senator,  nor  a  Mayor 
of  Chicago.  But  the  rising  generation  all  over  the  State, 
in  all  walks  of  life,  is  increasingly  tinctured  by  Illinois 
graduates.  Of  the  35,000  matriculants,  over  3,500  are 
resident  in  Chicago,  and  over  20,000  in  Illinois.  Not 
less  than  3,000  of  the  educated  farmers,  1,000  of  the 
merchants,  2,000  of  the  engineers,  250  of  the  architects, 


326  THE  UNIVERSITY  AND  STATE 

and  2,000  of  the  educators  of  the  State  are  men  and 
women  who  have  at  one  time  attended  the  University. 

Where  the  University  comes  closest  to  the  life  of  the 
State  is  in  the  fields  of  teaching  and  of  agriculture ;  and 
perhaps  its  most  direct  influence  is  in  the  former.  As 
head  of  the  educational  system,  it  exercises  a  beneficent 
influence  upon  all  its  subordinate  branches.  It  trains 
a  large  part  of  the  secondary  school  teachers,  and 
through  the  school  of  education  and  the  office  of  high 
school  visitor,  held  since  1902  by  H.  A.  HoUister,  it 
cooperates  with  the  public  authorities  in  determining 
their  standards.  The  administrative  organization  of 
education  in  Illinois,  as  in  most  States,  is  sadly  de- 
ficient in  centralization;  the  district  as  the  unit  of 
education  was  for  a  long  time  rarely  displaced  by 
the  township.  Under  a  law  passed  in  1911,  however, 
and  after  attack  before  the  Supreme  Court  upheld 
in  1913,  the  situation  is  fast  improving.  This  meas- 
ure makes  it  possible  for  the  voters  to  organize  a  high 
school  in  any  compact  and  contiguous  territory  of  over 
1,000  inhabitants,  even  cutting  across  township  lines. 
A  supplementary  act  provides  that  high  schools  receiv- 
ing students  from  outside  their  own  district  supervision 
shall,  in  case  these  students  have  no  high  school  of  their 
own,  remit  their  tuition  fees  and  charge  the  same  to  the 
students'  home  district.  The  former  law  has  led  to  the 
rapid  organization  of  secondary  schools  where  none 
existed  before,  there  being  263  township  high  schools  in 
1916  as  against  16  ten  years  before.  The  latter  has 
stimulated  attendance.  The  net  result  is  that  the  Uni- 
versity's registration  is  expected  to  increase  by  leaps 
and  bounds,  though  the  entrance  requirements  were 
raised  again  slightly  beginning  1916-17;  the  President 
believes  that  within  twenty  years  there  will  be  a  thou- 


BETTERING  THE  HIGH  SCHOOLS         327 

sand  accredited  schools.  The  influence  of  the  University 
on  the  high  schools  through  its  inspections,  entrance  ex- 
aminations, and  bulletins  is  of  course  increasingly 
powerful.  Even  the  normal  schools  look  to  it,  for  their 
graduates  frequently  come  to  the  University  to  finish. 

The  moment  any  Illinois  student  enters  the  high 
school,  especially  in  a  small  town,  his  acquaintance  with 
the  University  begins.  He  finds  the  syllabus  laid  down 
to  meet  the  University  requirements,  the  teachers  in 
occasional  communication  with  the  educational  faculty, 
and  the  school  periodically  on  parade  before  the  Uni- 
versity inspector.  Of  the  schools  accredited  by  the 
University  in  1915,  three-fifths  were  visited  that  year. 
He  finds  the  University  always  ready  to  advise  the 
authorities  on  school  organization,  and  the  students  con- 
cerning their  plan  of  study.  He  finds  it  conducting  a 
campaign  for  more  township  high  schools,  and  hold- 
ing an  annual  high  school  conference  which  one  or 
more  of  his  teachers  may  attend.  In  addition,  if  his 
school  is  doubtfully  satisfactory,  he  finds  that  the  Uni- 
versity is  taking  steps  to  make  certain  that  the  gap  be- 
tween itself  and  the  secondary  institution  is  bridged — 
that  it  is  outlining  a  program  of  new  studies,  or  helping 
appeal  to  the  community  for  money  to  equip  a  labora- 
tory, or  advising  with  the  local  Board  as  to  the  acquisi- 
tion of  effective  teachers. 

The  visitor  and  his  assistant  are  responsible  not  only 
for  the  accrediting  of  schools  to  the  University,  but  to 
the  North  Central  Association  of  Colleges  and  Secondary 
Schools;  and  travel,  inspection,  and  correspondence  re- 
quire all  their  time.  Even  where  schools  cannot  be 
accredited  they  are  helpful,  and  in  1915  they  assisted 
school  authorities  in  nine  counties  in  standardizing  two- 
and  three-year  high  schools.    The  office  of  the  visitor  has 


328  THE  UNIVERSITY  AND  STATE 

published  a  high  school  manual,  or  general  course  of 
study;  a  treatise  on  the  township  high  school,  which  is 
used  as  a  campaign  text  by  the  State  Superintendent 
and  various  civic  bodies ;  a  treatise  on  high  school  build- 
ings and  their  equipment ;  and  bulletins  containing  the 
proceedings  of  the  High  School  Conference.  Another 
bulletin,  for  teachers  of  English  in  the  high  schools,  is 
edited  by  Prof.  H.  G.  Paul  of  the  English  department. 
The  University  is  attempting  to  extend  a  new  system  of 
agricultural  high  schools,  each  with  its  ten  or  fifteen 
acres  of  farm  plotg.  The  autumnal  conference  has 
grown  from  an  attendance  of  75  in  1905  to  nearly  1,300 
in  1916,  and  now  carries  on  its  proceeding  in  thirteen 
sections.  It  has  accomplished  various  important  tasks: 
the  preparation  of  syllabi  in  a  score  of  high  school  sub- 
jects; the  recommendation  of  different  methods  of  high 
school  administration ;  and  the  outlining  of  model  cur- 
ricula for  schools  of  three,  four,  five,  or  more  teachers. 
But  of  greater  value  are  the  intangible  accomplishments 
of  keeping  alive  in  high  school  teachers  a  scientific 
interest  in  pedagogy,  and  of  effecting  a  warmer  under- 
standing between  the  University  and  the  high  schools. 
Practice  teaching  at  the  University,  which  began  in 
1893  under  Prof.  McMurry,  and  was  revived  more  than 
a  decade  later  by  Prof.  E.  G.  Dexter,  is  now  on  the 
point  of  expanding  into  a  genuine  practice  school,  to  be 
administered  by  the  faculty  of  the  school  of  education, 
in  consultation  with  the  members  of  other  departments 
assigned  to  specific  duties  in  connection  with  the  train- 
ing of  teachers.  The  new  building  will  give  full  facili- 
ties for  this  and  for  publication.  In  1914  the  State 
Superintendent  authorized  an  educational  survey  of  the 
State,  and  Prof.  Lotus  D.  Coffman  undertook  its  director- 
ship, the  University  contributing  $1,000  to  the  work. 


WORKING  WITH  THE  FARMER  329 

This  survey  has  furnished  a  mass  of  material  which  can 
be  utilized  by  graduate  students,  and  has  shown  that  it 
will  be  possible  for  advanced  investigators  at  Urbana 
to  do  much  in  the  service  of  local  or  State  educational 
authorities. 

The  work  done  for  the  State  by  the  college  of  agri- 
culture and  the  agricultural  experiment  station  falls 
under  three  general  heads:  their  activities  in  research, 
their  dissemination  of  advice  and  information  by  cor- 
respondence, and  their  extension  teaching  through  the 
short  course,  the  lectures  of  the  faculty  at  institutes, 
and  other  agencies.  It  should  be  said  that  there  is  little 
of  University  consciousness  in  this  work  and  that  college 
and  station  do  not  regard  themselves  as  entitled  to 
credit  either  for  altruistic  labor  or  for  the  originating 
of  many  endeavors.  The  work  which  they  do  represents, 
in  general,  the  response  to  a  demand  long  ago  voiced  by 
the  intelligent  agricultural  population  of  the  State; 
they  did  not  so  much  offer  themselves  as  they  were 
chosen  by  the  State  as  the  proper  agency.  It  is 
not  so  much  that  they  are  performing  a  certain  function 
for  the  State  as  that  the  State  is  performing  it 
through  them.  The  same  principle  applies  to  prac- 
tically all  the  other  University  divisions  which  seem 
to  be  of  general  State  service.  But  in  the  case  of 
the  college  and  station  it  is  particularly  clear,  for 
farmers  are  scattered  all  over  Illinois  who  show  as  ear- 
nest and  scientific  an  interest  in  the  advancement  of 
their  calling  as  does  the  faculty  at  Urbana.  The  three 
general  activities  mentioned  are  closely  connected,  for 
the  correspondence  and  lecturing  deal  mainly  with  the 
subject  under  investigation. 

The  chief  of  the  fields  of  research  may  be  briefly 
enumerated.    An  extensive  physical  and  chemical  anal- 


330  THE  UNIVERSITY  AND  STATE 

ysis  of  the  soil  of  Illinois  has  been  made,  dealing  with 
all  existing  soil  types;  and  at  the  same  time  a  soil 
survey  has  been  conducted  in  two  parts.  The  first,  the 
general  State  soil  survey,  which  was  completed  in  1907, 
shows  the  fourteen  great  soil  areas  of  the  State,  and 
gives  an  invoice  of  the  stock  of  fertility  in  twenty-five 
of  the  main  types  of  soils  in  these  divisions.  The  sec- 
ond, the  detailed  soil  survey,  is  taking  steps  to  dis- 
cover, map,  and  investigate  each  different  kind  of 
soil  on  each  farm  in  each  county,  even  down  to  five- 
acre  lots.  These  soil  investigations  are  a  necessary 
basis  for  the  adoption  of  scientific  methods  of  agricul- 
ture, and  the  University  believes  they  have  already  had 
important  results:  the  average  State  yields  the  last 
decade  having  been  seven  more  bushels  of  corn  and  three 
more  of  wheat  than  during  the  quarter-century  before 
the  University  began  (with  other  factors)  to  affect  agri- 
cultural practice.  Experiments  have  been  made  in  crop 
production,  milk  production,  and  meat  production,  fol- 
lowed by  the  issuance  of  bulletins  of  practical  advice. 
Plants  have  been  improved  by  selection  and  crossing ;  the 
smuts  and  insect  parasites,  scabs  and  cankers,  of  plants 
and  fruits  have  been  studied  and  their  treatment  dis- 
cussed ;  farm  roads  and  buildings  have  been  studied  and 
models  described.  For  the  deep  cultivation  of  corn  the 
farmers  have  been  led  to  substitute  shallow,  with  a 
consequent  saving  of  millions.  Better  methods  of  dairy- 
ing have  been  insisted  upon.  A  bulletin  comparing  the 
achievements  of  Rose  and  Queen,  one  a  University  cow 
that  produced  butter  fat  lavishly,  the  other  a  cow  to 
all  outward  appearance  as  good,  but  actually  worthless, 
has  been  distributed  by  the  tens  of  thousands.  Spe- 
cial effort  has  been  made  to  impress  upon  the  new  gen- 
eration the  necessity  for  attention  to  the  renovation  of 


WORKING  WITH  THE  FARMER  331 

land,  through  the  addition  of  limestone,  phosphate, 
manures,  and  the  rotation  of  crops  so  as  to  include  nitro- 
gen-producing plants.  An  "  Illinois  system  of  perma- 
nent fertility  "  has  been  perfected  and  is  zealously 
preached  to  farmers.  The  Russian  thistle  and  the  soy 
bean  are  equally  favored  by  treatises.  The  cause  of 
bitter  rot  in  apples  and  the  means  of  control  have  been 
discovered.  Methods  of  seeding  and  methods  of  caring 
for  growing  crops  are  treated  in  a  score  of  the  325 
bulletins  which,  by  the  end  of  1914,  the  University  had 
published.  To  describe  even  the  main  divisions  in  the 
entire  list,  in  which  Miss  Bevier's  household  science  de- 
partment is  well  represented,  would  be  wearisome. 

The  correspondence  of  the  college  and  station  long 
ago  passed  100,000  letters  annually.  These  present 
questions  of  all  sorts,  from  requests  for  confidential  in- 
formation as  to  patentable  articles  to  advice  on  stock 
feeding;  most  are  on  land  treatment.  In  general,  the 
inquiries  show  a  high  degree  of  ability  and  discrimina- 
tion, and  while  the  answering  of  them  is  a  laborious 
task,  it  doubtless  has  a  very  direct  influence  upon  the 
agricultural  progress  of  the  State.  It  is  usually  the 
interested  and  energetic  farmer  who  takes  the  trouble 
to  write  to  Urbana.  "No  matter  how  absurd  the  let- 
ter," says  Dean  Davenport,  "the  custom  is  always  to 
make  a  serious  answer.  .  .  .  The  experiment  station 
never  writes  an  angry  or  insulting  letter,  and  the  result 
is  that  it  is  a  rare  thing  to  receive  a  communication 
showing  real  irritation.  .  .  .  The  most  frequent  cause 
of  complaint  is  in  not  receiving  the  bulletins.  A  farmer 
has  frequently  said  to  me,  'Why  are  you  no  longer 
sending  me  your  bulletins?'  and  then  in  the  next 
breath  he  would  begin  discussing  the  last  bulletin  issued. 
I  have  discovered  an  almost  universal  impression  that 


332  THE  UNIVERSITY  AND  STATE 

these  bulletins  are  issued  regularly,  whereas  they  are 
not."  Another  difficulty  is  with  individuals  who  ask 
for  a  species  of  information  that  cannot  be  given  with- 
out investigation  of  their  ov/n  peculiar  conditions.  A 
man  will  inquire  if  he  cannot  have  his  soil  analyzed, 
for  example,  and  must  be  told  that  the  composition  of 
his  soil  is  reported,  or  will  be  reported,  in  the  soil  report 
for  his  county;  that  the  University  cannot  delay  its 
systematic  investigations  of  the  soil  of  the  State  to  make 
analyses  of  miscellaneous  non-representative  samples. 

The  college  also  carries  on  a  small  press  service. 
Formerly  page  matter  was  prepared  for  use  by  the 
syndicates  which  distribute  plate  matter  to  the  small 
newspapers,  and  a  university  news  bureau  still  sends 
brief  reports  of  matters  concerning  college  and  station 
to  all  papers  within  the  State.  There  is  a  limited 
service  in  the  preparation  of  careful  and  extended  arti- 
cles for  special  periodicals,  as  dairy  articles  for  the 
dairy  press,  and  some  of  these  have  even  seen  publica- 
tion in  the  French  and  German  agricultural  press.  The 
purpose  of  the  lectures  and  articles  as  a  whole  is  to 
concentrate  attention  on  a  half  dozen  of  the  chief  prin- 
ciples laid  down  by  the  University  for  the  improvement 
of  farming,  and  to  iterate  them  till  they  are  adopted. 
The  results  of  this  are  evident  in  that  the  farmers  of 
whole  counties  now  no  longer  need  emphasis  upon  the 
more  elementary  facts — those  of  certain  central  counties, 
for  example,  now  universally  treat  seed-oats  for  smut- 
prevention. 

The  scope  of  the  extension  activities  of  the  college  is 
evident  from  the  fact  that  at  the  demonstration  schools 
over  the  State  of  wliich  mention  has  been  made  a  total 
of  perhaps  10,000  annually  receive  instruction;  that 
50,000  hear  University  speakers  at  the  farmers'  insti- 


RESEARCH  IN  ENGINEERING  333 

tutes,  and  that  2,000  men  and  women  are  attracted  to 
the  Short  Course — in  one  case  a  farmer  having  at- 
tended with  thirty-two  of  his  tenants.  And  in  1914 
the  Smith-Lever  Act,  a  new  Federal  law,  made  available 
in  Illinois,  for  experiment  work  in  agriculture  and  house- 
hold economics,  over  $23,000  in  1915,  over  $36,000  in 
1916,  and  thence  in  increasing  amounts  to  over  $175,000 
in  1924  and  every  year  thereafter.  County  advisors  are 
located  in  the  various  counties  as  fast  as  local  organiza- 
tions can  be  formed  to  support  their  work,  and  county 
funds  raised  for  their  partial  remuneration.  Demon- 
strators, including  a  number  representing  the  household 
science  department,  have  been  appointed  to  act  as  special 
advisors  to  the  county  agents  and  to  associations  of 
farmers.  What  is  awkwardly  called  "  cooperative  farm 
management  demonstration  work  ' '  has  been  undertaken 
under  one  traveling  director,  whose  duties  are  to  confer 
with  the  farmers  upon  the  advantages  of  cooperative 
effort.  Finally,  girls'  and  boys'  clubs  in  farming  and 
household  science  are  being  organized,  with  an  eye  to  put- 
ting into  the  work  of  children  an  interest  and  breadth 
never  there  before.  There  was  a  just  fear  when  the  Smith- 
Lever  bill  was  passed  that  its  funds,  huge  in  the  aggre- 
gate, might  be  wasted;  it  is  now  evident  that  in  States 
like  Illinois  the  Federal  moneys  could  be  put  to  no 
better  purpose.  The  University  for  a  time  formally 
assisted  in  the  execution  of  the  Act  under  articles  of  co- 
operation with  the  Federal  Department  of  Agriculture, 
but  in  its  insistence  upon  freedom  from  an  interference 
offensive  to  academic  officers  has  severed  those  relations. 
The  engineering  experiment  station,  the  first  to  be 
established  in  America  in  connection  with  a  university, 
has  been  devoted  to  problems  of  general  and  not  mere 
State  interest ;  most  of  its  achievements  have  been  at 


334  THE  UNIVERSITY  AND  STATE 

the  service  of  the  engineering  profession  of  the  whole 
world.  One  notable  investigation  in  fuels,  however, 
has  especially  improved  the  use  of  Illinois  coal.  The 
station  has  shown  not  only  how  to  get  the  greatest  heat 
out  of  the  bituminous  products  of  the  great  fields  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  State,  but  has  demonstrated  that 
practicable  coking  processes  will  make  it  like  anthra- 
cite, burning  with  little  or  no  smoke.  The  chemical 
experiments  here  have  been  carried  farther  than  any- 
where else  in  the  world;  and  a  notable  sight  at  the 
University  is  still  the  furnace  into  which  is  dumped  the 
soft  black  coal  out  of  which  Chicago  and  Pittsburg 
produce  blinding  fogs,  and  which  here  burns  with  clear 
heat.  Studies  have  been  made  of  the  effects  of  weather- 
ing, washing,  and  storage  of  such  coal,  and  of  its  utiliza- 
tion in  gas-making.  The  civil  engineering  department 
has  also  made  studies  of  rural  roads  especially  valuable 
for  Illinois.  But  the  investigations  of  materials  used 
in  engineering  construction,  and  especially  of  the 
strength  and  properties  of  reenforced  concrete,  the 
study  of  which  was  begun  when  the  station  was  estab- 
lished in  1904,  have  been  available  to  the  industrial 
world  at  large,  and  have  been  the  basis  of  the  sub- 
sequent design  of  concrete  structures  by  engineers  all 
over  Europe  and  America.  The  huge  materials  testing 
machines  of  the  University,  now  housed  in  a  large  spe- 
cial building,  have  been  constantly  engaged  for  thirteen 
years  in  breaking,  crushing,  or  straining  pillars  of  con- 
crete, brick,  wood,  or  steel,  in  search  of  important  engi- 
neering principles.  So,  too,  with  the  studies  in  heat 
transmission,  of  the  strength  of  welds  in  steel,  and  of 
different  materials  used  in  electric  filaments,  which  have 
been  useful  not  merely  in  Illinois,  or  the  United  States, 
but  abroad. 


ENGINEERING  RESEARCH  335 

In  railway  engineering,  a  locomotive  of  any  size  may 
be  mounted  in  the  locomotive  laboratory  in  such  manner 
as  to  permit  it  to  be  operated  under  any  desired  condi- 
tion of  load  or  speed.  Testing  a  wide  range  of  locomo- 
tives, the  University  now  has  records  complete  enough 
to  make  possible  an  accurate  estimate  of  the  perform- 
ance of  any  standard  type  in  respect  of  fuel  consump- 
tion, speed,  tractive  effort,  and  so  on.  The  railway  de- 
partment also  has  a  dynamometer  car  for  the  study  of 
the  effect  of  varying  conditions  upon  rolling  stock,  much 
used  by  New  York  City  when  electrification  was  under- 
taken there,  and  an  electric  test  car.  The  mining  labora- 
tory is  completely  equipped,  and  has  solved  many 
problems  for  both  miners  and  operators.  In  electrical 
lines  investigations  have  been  made  of  such  popular 
subjects  as  street  and  rural  home  lighting,  and  recently 
a  new  alloy,  consisting  of  iron  and  silicon,  has  been 
discovered  and  upon  refinement  found  to  possess  great 
value  in  the  manufacture  of  transformers  and  dynamos. 
A  study  and  analysis  of  the  thermal  properties  of  steam 
has  been  completed  under  Prof.  G.  A.  Goodenough,  and 
from  a  huge  volume  of  facts  has  been  formulated  a  ' '  steam 
table"  of  far  greater  accuracy  than  any  before  known; 
this  has  proved  of  much  assistance  to  engine  designers 
and  engineers,  and  has  evoked  congratulatory  addresses 
from  German  authorities  hitherto  leading  in  the  field.  A 
highly  useful  law  governing  the  relation  between  the 
expansion  curve  drawn  by  a  steam  engine  indicator  and 
the  economic  performance  of  the  engine  has  been  discov- 
ered by  a  research  fellow.  The  wind-stresses  in  large 
buildings  have  been  studied,  and  the  mortar-making 
qualities  of  native  sands.  The  investigations  of  the  sta- 
tion are  now  being  pushed  by  a  very  large  and  com- 
petent staff:  ten  research  professors  and  assistants,  and 


336  THE  UNIVERSITY  AND  STATE 

fifteen  research  fellows,  devote  their  entire  time  to  ex- 
perimental work,  while  of  course  all  faculty  members  of 
the  college  of  engineering  are  directly  interested  in  it. 
Eesults  of  more  than  a  hundred  successful  and  signifi- 
cant investigations  have  been  published — failures  are 
not  recorded — and  a  dozen  more  are  in  progress.  Ar- 
rangements have  been  made  by  which  three  sets  of  ex- 
periments are  now  being  carried  on  with  the  assistance 
and  partial  financial  support  of  as  many  outside  bodies : 
the  Association  of  Manufacturers  of  Chilled  Car  Wheels, 
a  large  coal  company  of  the  South,  and  the  International 
Railway  Fuel  Association. 

With  the  extra-educational  work  in  engineering  and 
agriculture  is  closely  related  that  of  some  of  the  scien- 
tific departments.  A  number  of  bulletins,  prepared  by 
workers  in  chemistry,  have  dealt  with  the  effect  of 
weather  on  Illinois  coals,  and  methods  of  preventing  loss 
in  exposed  coal.  Prof.  Parr's  calorimeter  has  become 
invaluable  to  buyers  of  coal  on  a  large  scale.  But  spe- 
cial mention  is  merited  by  the  work  the  department  of 
physiological  chemistry  has  done,  in  part  in  conjunction 
with  the  college  of  agriculture,  upon  the  nutrition  of 
man  and  the  lower  animals.  During  1907-08  a  nutri- 
tion club  of  twenty-four  physically  sound  students  was 
formed  under  Prof.  Grindley  and  housed  in  two  build- 
ings with  matron  and  chef.  An  extensive  study  was 
made  during  the  next  year  of  the  foods  used,  the  waste 
products,  and  the  effects  upon  the  subjects — a  corps  of 
thirty  men  of  scientific  knowledge  and  experience  being 
employed  on  the  task.  The  primary  purpose  was  to 
reveal  the  effects  upon  man  of  saltpeter  when  used  as  a 
preservative  of  meats;  but  many  incidental  investiga- 
tions of  interest  to  physicians,  clinicians,  pathologists, 
bacteriologists,  and  biological  chemists  were  made,  cov- 


EXPERIMENTS  IN  NUTRITION  337 

ering  both  the  normal  and  the  abnormal  activities  of 
the  club  members.  Sufficient  preliminary  work  had 
already  been  done  in  the  field  of  nutrition,  with  encour- 
agement from  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  to  make 
certain  the  pursuit  of  the  most  significant  lines  of  re- 
search. For  the  expenses  of  this  unprecedentedly  large 
and  careful  study  the  American  Meat  Packers'  Associa- 
tion appropriated  $50,000,  and  the  University  set  aside 
generous  sums.  A  huge  mass  of  material  was  collected, 
and  slowly  interpreted.  By  the  spring  of  1910  thirty- 
eight  separate  papers  on  the  investigations  had  been 
published,  many  both  in  scientific  publications  and  in 
bulletin  form.  By  the  end  of  1912  three  volumes  of  500 
pages  each  had  been  brought  forth,  and  data  remained 
to  fill  three  or  four  volumes  more.  In  the  editing  of 
these  results  the  University  had  the  cooperation  of  an 
advisory  board  of  faculty  members  of  Yale,  Harvard, 
the  University  of  Chicago,  and  Washington  University. 
The  most  important  results  established  by  these  nu- 
trition investigations,  which  are  being  continued,  can 
here  be  stated  but  briefly.  The  surprising  fact  was 
shown,  and  abundantly  confirmed,  that  nitrates  are 
formed  in  the  human  organism.  It  was  shown  that 
there  are  significant  seasonal  variations  in  many  of  the 
nutritional  processes  of  man.  The  influence  of  different 
classes  of  food  upon  human  health  was  demonstrated, 
and  a  series  of  sound  rations  arrived  at.  It  was  proved 
that  the  cheaper  cuts  of  meat  are,  when  properly  pre- 
pared, just  as  wholesome  and  nutritious  as  the  more 
expensive.  A  precise  method  of  roasting  meats,  by 
which  they  were  given  the  utmost  palatability,  digesti- 
bility, and  nutritious  value,  was  perfected,  and  the  re- 
sults embodied  in  a  fireless  cooker.  The  nutrition  of 
man  in  disease  was  studied,  and  model  diets  formulated. 


338  THE  UNIVERSITY  AND  STATE 

The  nutrition  laboratory  also  conducted  experiments 
upon  the  influence  of  different  kinds  of  feeding-stuffs 
upon  the  growth,  fattening,  and  nutrition  of  beef  cattle, 
swine,  and  lambs,  and  established  the  best  rations  for 
such  animals — the  agricultural  experiment  station  pub- 
lishing these  results.  The  chief  conclusions  obtained 
were  that  steers  might  be  fattened  upon  a  very  low 
protein  ration,  and  that  the  greater  the  amount  of  food 
furnished,  the  lower  was  the  coefficient  of  digestibility. 
Finally,  the  laboratory  was  engaged  to  assist  the  Pel- 
lagra Commission  appointed  by  Gov.  Deneen,  on  which 
the  University  was  well  represented;  and  after  study 
of  the  dietary  of  the  inmates  of  the  various  State  insti- 
tutions, it  showed  that  it  was  wanting  in  animal  foods, 
and  that  more  fresh  fruits  and  vegetables  should  be 
offered  for  their  mineral  elements.  In  short,  the  meat 
trade,  the  housewives,  and  the  live  stock  producers  espe- 
cially of  Illinois,  and  the  medical  men  and  chemists  of 
the  whole  country,  have  been  directly  benefited  by  the 
study. 

The  State  offices  connected  with  the  University,  which 
use  its  equipment  and  the  time  of  some  of  its  faculty, 
are  an  integral  part  of  its  extension  work.  The  State 
Entomologist,  whose  post  was  permanently  established 
at  Urbana  in  1899  by  a  law  requiring  the  University  to 
provide  laboratory  and  office,  is  expected  to  investigate 
all  dangerous  insects,  to  inspect  and  certify  annually  all 
nurseries  and  importations  of  nursery  stock  in  the  State, 
and  to  maintain  a  general  watch  over  its  horticultural 
interests.  Experiments  carried  through  many  years 
upon  the  repression  of  chinch  bugs  have  helped  ma- 
terially in  establishing  the  methods  now  accepted.  So, 
also,  the  office  has  been  useful  in  discovering  or  pro- 
moting methods  of  destroying  the  Hessian  fly  and  corn- 


STATE  OFFICERS  AT  THE  UNIVERSITY    339 

root  aphis,  of  spraying  orchards  for  the  codling  moth 
and  plum  curculio,  and  of  treating  the  San  Jose  scale 
with  lime-sulphur.  The  State  Water  Survey,  in  addi- 
tion to  activities  before  mentioned,  has  carried  on 
experiments  with  boiler  water,  has  treated  reservoirs  for 
algse  and  other  water  taints,  and  has  advised  with  manu- 
facturing companies  on  the  harmfulness  of  their  dis- 
charges into  streams — in  some  cases  finding  new  uses 
for  by-products.  The  State  Geological  Survey,  which 
was  not  founded  for  nearly  three-quarters  of  a  century 
after  the  first  such  body  in  America,  has  been  attempt- 
ing to  atone  for  lost  time  in  a  rapid  exploration  of  the 
mineral  resources  of  Illinois.  In  conjunction  with  the 
mining  engineering  department  and  the  Federal  Bureau 
of  Mines  it  has  charted  the  various  coal  fields  and  seams 
of  the  State  and  analyzed  the  coal  from  each,  while  it 
is  now  studying  various  geological  phenomena  incident 
to  mining.  The  Fuel  Conference  of  1909  revealed. 
Dean  Goss  reported,  "the  development  of  a  strong  feel- 
ing favorable  to  the  adoption  of  more  scientific  methods 
in  the  further  development  of  the  mining  properties  of 
the  State. ' '  Cooperating  with  the  ceramics  department, 
again,  it  has  determined  that  a  number  of  the  common 
clays  of  Illinois  have  ceramic  value,  and  has  prepared 
reports  upon  the  deposits  of  materials  for  cement. 

A  decade  ago  the  State  Laboratory  of  Natural  History 
had  in  hand  three  principal  enterprises — the  completion 
of  the  report  on  Illinois  fishes,  a  systematic  survey  of 
the  bird  life  of  the  State,  and  a  study  of  the  plant  and 
animal  life  of  peculiar  regions,  as  the  bog  area  of  the 
north,  or  the  sand  dunes  of  the  lake  shore.  These  have 
all  been  finished  or  pushed  well  to  completion.  Since 
then  operations  have  been  devoted  to  two  other  main 
ends.     The  forestry  resources  of  the  State  have  been 


340  THE  UNIVERSITY  AND  STATE 

carefully  surveyed,  in  cooperation  with  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment ;  and  a  biological  survey  has  been  made  of  the 
Illinois  River  with  special  attention  to  economic  aims. 
The  Illinois  is  one  of  the  few  important  fishing  waters 
in  the  country,  and  one  of  the  most  productive  in  the 
world — its  yield  amounting  to  over  a  million  dollars 
yearly.  The  environment  of  the  stream  has  undergone  a 
rapid  change  in  recent  years,  the  bottom  lands  having 
been  largely  reclaimed,  the  cities  on  its  banks  having 
filled  with  manufactories  threatening  its  purity,  and  the 
drainage  canal  of  the  Sanitary  District  of  Chicago  having 
brought  into  it  an  enormous  load  of  Chicago  sewage  di- 
luted by  a  large  additional  flow  from  Lake  Michigan.  To 
keep  its  yield  of  fishes  at  the  maximum  is  one  object  of  a 
prolonged  survey  which  Dr.  Forbes  is  carrying  on. 
But  his  office  has  also  published,  in  the  ten  volumes  and 
scores  of  miscellaneous  papers  issued  up  to  1914,  much 
unconnected  with  these  general  topics. 

The  bacteriological  department  was  employed  from 
1911  to  1914  by  the  Illinois  Canners'  Association  for 
an  investigation  of  problems  in  the  canning  industry, 
carried  on  with  a  contribution  of  $1,000  annually  by  the 
Association.  The  ceramics  department  has  devised  a 
method  for  preheating  Illinois  clays  formerly  regarded 
as  worthless,  so  that  they  may  be  used  in  the  manu- 
facture of  high-grade  building  brick.  It  has  shown  the 
possibility  of  replacing  tin,  in  the  manufacture  of  white 
glazed  stoneware,  with  a  cheaper  magnesia.  It  has  dis- 
covered the  method  of  compounding  glazes,  hitherto  a 
trade  secret,  designed  a  new  viscosimeter  to  measure  the 
plasticity  of  clays,  and  constructed  the  first  kiln  for 
high-temperature  gases  which  is  a  success  in  giving  con- 
trol of  temperature.  The  department  of  mining  engi- 
neering, again,  recently  opened  a  large  field  of  usefulness 


1l 


Main  Entrance  to  Lincoln  Hall 


WESTERN  HISTORY  341 

in  the  Miners'  and  Mechanics'  Institutes.  The  program 
of  these  Institutes  included  a  two  years '  extension  course 
to  be  offered  at  mining  centers,  to  enable  untrained  men 
to  become  mine  inspectors,  managers,  and  hoisting  engi- 
neers; short  courses  of  six  and  two  weeks  each  at  the 
University,  to  help  all  those  connected  with  mining  to 
keep  abreast  of  the  times;  unit  courses  to  be  given  in 
special  mining  districts;  and  a  large  number  of  minor 
activities — the  organization  of  local  institutes,  the  main- 
tenance of  a  Questions  and  Answers  office,  the  organiza- 
tion of  evening  classes  for  men  employed  by  day  in  the 
mines,  and  the  offering  of  general  instruction  to  ill- 
educated  miners  who  have  recently  come  to  America. 
The  Institutes  were  a  most  promising  instrument  for  the 
enlightenment  of  scores  of  thousands  who  find  their 
support  in  the  coal  fields  of  southern  Illinois,  and  it  is 
to  be  hoped  that  the  political  action  at  Springfield  which 
cut  short  their  existence  may  soon  be  reconsidered. 

In  the  college  of  liberal  arts  and  sciences  one  of  the 
largest  services  has  been  performed  by  the  department 
of  history,  under  Professors  Greene  and  Alvord,  to  which 
is  largely  due  the  fact  that  Illinois,  ten  years  ago  a 
laggard  in  the  historical  field,  now ,  leads  her  sister 
States  of  the  Middle  West.  The  beginnings  of  real 
historical  study  in  the  State  were  made  when  in  1905 
the  Trustees  of  the  State  Historical  Library — which  had 
not  been  founded  until  1889,  and  had  published  its  first 
volume  only  in  1903 — sent  Prof.  Alvord  to  examine  an 
old  French  document  which  was  reported  to  be  in  the 
courthouse  of  St.  Clair  County  at  Belleville.  Prof.  Al- 
vord found  not  only  this,  but  a  large  number  of  other 
and  more  important  eighteenth  century  documents, 
which  especially  illustrated  the  history  of  Illinois  during 
the  British   dominion   and   the   American   Revolution. 


342  THE  UNIVERSITY  AND  STATE 

They  were  all  that  had  been  preserved  of  the  records 
of  Cahokia,  one  of  the  earliest  settlements  within  the 
State's  present  borders.  So  impressed  was  the  Library 
that  in  the  autumn  an  advisory  commission  of  professors 
of  history  in  six  of  the  leading  colleges  and  normal 
schools  of  the  State  was  formed  under  Prof.  Greene, 
and  a  plan  for  the  publication  of  historical  materials  in 
series  was  adopted.  Shortly  afterwards,  Prof.  Alvord 
was  given  general  editorial  supervision  of  the  Illinois 
Historical  Collections,  as  the  series  were  to  be  called. 

Under  Prof.  Alvord 's  direction,  volumes  II  to  XII, 
inclusive,  of  the  Collections  were  published  in  the  nine 
years  following  1907,  thirteen  more  were  brought  into 
active  preparation,  and  plans  were  made  for  others. 
Another  important  discovery,  that  of  the  records  of  the 
old  French  settlement  at  Kaskaskia,  was  made  by  Prof. 
Alvord  in  the  courthouse  of  Randolph  County  at 
Chester,  and  a  third  in  the  papers  of  Pierre  Menard  at 
Fort  Gage.  Volumes  II  and  V  of  the  Collections  contain 
these  '*  Cahokia  Records,"  arid  "Kaskaskia  Records," 
edited  by  Alvord,  and  volumes  X  and  XI,  documents  on 
"  British  Illinois,"  edited  by  him  and  C.  E.  Carter. 
Prof.  Greene,  Prof.  Alvord,  and  Dr.  C.  M.  Thompson 
have  edited  the  Governors'  Letter-Books  from  1818 
to  1853;  Prof.  Scott  a  bibliography  of  newspapers 
and  periodicals  in  Illinois,  1814-1879;  Dr.  S.  J.  Buck, 
formerly  of  the  University,  a  bibliography  of  travel  and 
description,  1765-1865;  Dr.  T.  C.  Pease  a  volume  on 
County  Archives;  and  other  men  other  units  in  the 
Collections,  All  this  work  was  greatly  stimulated  when 
in  1909  the  University  organized  the  Illinois  Historical 
Survey  under  Prof.  Alvord  as  a  department  of  the 
graduate  school,  to  facilitate  research  and  to  encourage 
the  writing  of  monographs  in  Illinois  history.     The 


GENERAL  PUBLIC  SERVICE  343 

most  important  undertaking  of  the  Survey  has  been  the 
compilation  of  a  five-volume  history  of  the  State,  under 
the  editorship  of  Prof.  Alvord,  as  a  memorial  to  mark 
the  centenary  (1918)  of  admission  to  Statehood.  Funds 
have  been  voted  by  the  Legislature,  and  the  work  is  to 
be  published  by  the  Illinois  Centennial  Commission, 
created  by  it.  The  volume  on  Illinois  as  province  and 
territory  has  been  assigned  to  Prof.  Alvord,  that  on  the 
frontier  State,  to  1848,  to  Dr.  Pease,  that  on  the  transi- 
tional era  of  the  Civil  War  to  Dr.  Arthur  Cole ;  that  on 
the  period  of  industrial  development,  from  1870  to  1893, 
to  Prof.  Bogart  and  Dr.  Pease ;  and  the  final  one  on  the 
modern  commonwealth  to  Prof.  Bogart  and  Prof.  J.  M. 
Mathews.  The  Survey  and  the  workers  on  the  centennial 
history,  laboring  winter  and  summer,  employ  a  staff  of 
twelve  graduate  assistants  and  a  large  office  force ;  they 
have  made  a  thorough  search  for  all  useful  materials  in 
newspaper  files,  in  county  archives,  in  local  libraries,  in 
private  collections,  have  photographed  thousands  of 
documents  in  Washington,  and  have  hired  expert  workers 
in  foreign  capitals.  All  these  materials  are  being  handled 
in  such  manner  that  the  completion  of  the  centennial 
history  will  leave  the  University  with  the  most  valuable 
set  of  local  records  in  the  West. 

There  remain  to  be  mentioned  a  large  number  of 
miscellaneous  services  to  the  State  by  University  de- 
partments and  officers.  For  two  years  Dean  Goss  was 
employed  in  Chicago  by  a  committee  of  the  Association 
of  Commerce  to  direct  investigative  work  upon  smoke 
abatement  and  the  electrification  of  the  terminals.  At 
the  same  time,  Prof.  Fairlie  was  serving  as  director  of 
a  legislative  committee  on  economy  and  efficiency  in  the 
State  government.  In  1914  President  James  appointed 
two  representatives  to  a  committee,  which  included  men 


344  THE  UNIVERSITY  AND  STATE 

from  Northwestern  and  Chicago  Universities,  to  prepare 
material  of  use  to  the  State  if  it  called  a  constitutional 
convention.  Prof.  Fairlie  and  Prof.  Garner  have  estab- 
lished an  office  of  municipal  research.  Dean  Kinley  has 
served  as  a  member  of  the  Industrial  Insurance  Com- 
mission and  the  State  Tax  Commission.  Wilhelm 
Miller,  while  head  of  the  landscape  gardening  courses, 
converted  hundreds  of  farmers  to  a  conscious  effort  at 
the  beautifieation  of  their  holdings — and  beautification 
not  with  foreign  trees  and  bushes  but  with  those  in- 
digenous to  Illinois  and  suitable  to  the  horizontal  lines 
of  the  prairie.  The  President  of  the  University  himself, 
besides  serving  on  various  temporary  committees,  was 
for  fifteen  years  the  president  of  the  Illinois  State  His- 
torical Library  Board,  under  whose  direction  the  de- 
velopment of  the  work  in  State  history  received  its 
initial  impetus.  He  was  also  for  seven  years  the  presi- 
dent of  the  State  Highway  Commission,  which  began 
the  recent  work  of  modern  highway  improvement  and 
road  building.  As  secretary  and  executive  officer  of  the 
State  Tax  Commission,  he  guided  the  thorough  investi- 
gation into  the  tax  system  of  the  State  which  resulted 
in  the  proposal  of  various  reforms,  some  of  which  were 
adopted  by  the  Legislature.  Above  all,  various  impor- 
tant conferences  on  public  questions  have  been  held  at 
the  University  in  recent  years.  Thus  in  1913  the  Com- 
merce Building  was  dedicated  with  a  conference  on 
business  progress  attended  by  many  business  men;  and 
a  year  later  a  conference  on  life  insurance  and  its  educa- 
tional relations  was  held  on  the  occasion  of  the  presenta- 
tion of  the  portrait  of  an  insurance  leader.  At  the 
installation  of  Dean  Goss  in  1908  a  number  of  men  emi- 
nent in  engineering  fields  appeared,  and  joined  in  a 
virtual  conference  on  graduate  research  in  engineer- 


COMMUNITY  BETTERMENT  345 

ing.  The  conference  on  railway  problems  and  that  on 
animal  tuberculosis  have  been  noted.  Two  annual  drain- 
age conferences  have  been  held,  for  in  Illinois  there  are 
great  overflow  areas  of  rich  lowlands  along  the  rivers, 
the  reclamation  of  which  would  add  $150,000,000  to  the 
State  wealth ;  and  the  college  of  engineering  is  eager  to 
arouse  interest  in  drainage  problems. 

Since  the  University  appointed  a  Community  Advisor 
three  years  ago,  it  has  appealed  directly  to  scores  of 
towns  and  villages  to  make  themselves  more  attractive 
to  their  inhabitants.  The  ugliness  of  many  small 
prairie  centers,  with  unkempt  streets,  ramshackle  busi- 
ness districts,  few  shade  trees  or  lawns,  and  no  expres- 
sions of  community  feeling  beyond  a  town  hall,  a  "cal- 
laboose,"  and  a  few  lodges,  is  patent  to  every  traveler. 
Dr.  Hieronymus  has  traveled  throughout  the  State, 
attempting  in  some  places  to  form  a  new  organization 
for  local  improvement,  in  most  sensibly  employing  some 
organization  already  at  hand — a  commercial,  a  social, 
an  educational,  or  even  a  religious  body.  One  town  is 
urged  to  build  a  library,  another  to  preserve  the  build- 
ing in  which  Dickens  or  Lincoln  slept,  or  the  log  house 
of  its  first  settler;  a  third  to  arrange  for  a  township 
high  school;  a  fourth  to  acquire  a  park;  practically  aU 
to  better  their  appearance  by  the  planting  of  shrubbery, 
the  designing  of  flower  beds,  and  the  systematic  trim- 
ming of  trees.  Wisconsin  led  in  this  work  when  she 
obtained  the  originator  of  the  social  center  idea  from 
Rochester,  New  York ;  Illinois  is  making  a  good  second. 
An  annual  Better  Community  Conference  is  held  at  the 
University,  and  a  comprehensive  program  of  community 
improvement  has  been  proposed  in  connection  with  the 
centennial  celebration. 

It  is  evident  from  its  position  that  the  University, 


346  THE  UNIVERSITY  AND  STATE 

even  while  laying  all  possible  emphasis  upon  its  purely 
academic  functions,  will  have  more  and  more  to  increase 
those  which  extend  general  benefits  to  the  State.  The 
road  of  extension  service  is  bound  to  broaden  with  great 
rapidity.  To  teach  a  community  to  look  to  the  Uni- 
versity for  assistance  in  one  field  is  to  lead  it,  in  time, 
to  require  it  in  many.  The  State,  which  had  a  popula- 
tion of  two  and  a  half  millions  when  the  University 
was  founded,  now  numbers  more  than  six  million 
people.  With  a  quarter-million  farms,  with  a  produc- 
tion of  corn  alone  approaching  $200,000,000  an- 
nually, it  is  one  of  the  three  or  four  most  important 
agricultural  States  in  the  Union.  The  only  agricultural 
courses  of  any  consequence  are  those  given  at  the  Uni- 
versity, the  chief  extension  activities  to  which  the  two 
and  a  quarter-million  people  resident  on  the  farms  can 
look  emanate  from  Urbana.  But  the  State  is  also  the 
most  important  manufacturing  commonwealth  west  of 
the  Alleghenies,  producing  nearly  one-tentih  of  the  manu- 
factured products  of  the  Union.  More  than  a  half  mil- 
lion persons  are  actual  wage  earners  in  manufacturing 
establishments.  In  mining,  over  60,000,000  tons  of  coal 
have  been  produced  in  a  single  year.  The  primacy  of 
the  State  in  railway  traffic  is  well  known.  All  these  in- 
dustries, and  all  the  professional  activities  of  the  State, 
have  found  their  reflection  in  courses  of  training  at 
the  State  University,  and  are  certain  to  find  more  direct 
bonds  with  the  institution  than  through  their  absorp- 
tion of  its  graduates.  It  will  have  to  undertake  new  in- 
vestigations for  them,  to  increase  the  efficiency  of  the 
rank  and  file  who  cannot  attend  college,  to  become  a 
center  for  the  conventions  and  conferences  of  their  lead- 
ers, and  to  act  as  their  agents  in  communication  with 
each  other  and  as  their  inspiration  in  new  progress. 


CONCLUSION 

The  Position  of  the  State  University.  Safeguards  at  Illinois 
Against  Its  Characteristic  Dangers.  The  New  Era  Opened  by 
the  Mill  Tax  Act.  The  Deficiencies  of  the  University  and 
Means  of  Repairing  Them.  Future  Relations  Between  Univer- 
sity and  State. 

In  a  facile  way,  the  State  universities  have  always 
been  warned  of  four  dangers  to  which  their  public 
nature  and  their  innate  tendencies  exposei  them.  It  has 
been  supposed  they  are  in  constant  danger  of  drifting 
out  on  the  uncertain  sea  of  State  politics,  and  that  their 
administration  must  therefore  always  be  slightly  pre- 
carious. They  have  been  accused  of  suffering  from 
superficiality  and  a  rage  for  numbers,  leading  to  unwise 
or  premature  expansion.  Their  ''elder  sisters,  haughty 
peers, ' '  have  insinuated  that  in  their  boast  of  their  iden- 
tity with  the  democratic  movement  towards  more  of 
sweetness  and  light  is  reflected  a  tendency  to  take  them- 
selves too  seriously  as  leaders.  Finally,  it  is  urged 
against  them  that  they  are  dominated  almost  exclusively 
by  utilitarian  ideals,  and  that  the  atmosphere  of  student 
thought,  the  curriculum,  and  the  attitude  of  the  faculty 
all  encourage  the  practical  as  distinguished  from  the 
cultural.  The  University  of  Illinois,  it  is  unnecessary 
to  say,  has  at  times  been  sharply  stung  by  each  of  these 
reflections  upon  the  class  of  institutions  to  which  it  be- 
longs.   In  1911,  in  his  commencement  address,  President 

347 


348  STATE  PRIDE  IN  UNIVERSITY 

James  offered  some  remarks  upon  them  in  a  defense  of 
university  education  as  a  whole;  two  years  later  Prof. 
Sherman  published  a  more  elaborate  defense ;  and  these 
utterances  have  only  been  symptomatic  of  much  ques- 
tioning and  thought  on  the  subject,  just  as  the  utter- 
ances of  Prof.  E.  A.  Ross,  Mr.  Pritchett,  and  Presidents 
Vincent  and  Van  Hise  in  defense  of  the  State  University 
have  been  symptomatic  of  a  general  Middle  Western 
stirring  in  its  behalf. 

The  first  of  these  questions  is  one  of  fairly  determina- 
ble fact;  and  it  is  clear  that  as  regards  Illinois  no  one 
at  the  University  or  in  the  State  is  apprehensive  lest 
political  currents  unduly  affect  the  institution.  The 
State  has  moved  beyond  the  stage  at  which,  as  in  Okla- 
homa, the  Trustees  could  wantonly  turn  out  the  Presi- 
dent and  the  best  faculty  men  to  replace  them  with 
arbitrary  appointments;  or  as  in  Florida,  political 
pressure  and  the  desire  for  size  could  drive  out  an  ex- 
cellent President  against  the  wishes  of  Trustees  and 
faculty ;  or  as  in  Kentucky,  a  President  of  fine  training 
and  intellectual  grasp  could  be  replaced  by  a  petty  poli- 
tician. A  virile  and  sensitive  public  opinion  has  been 
developed,  and  several  recent  incidents  have  made  it 
plain  that  when  fully  aroused  there  is  no  one  at  Spring- 
field or  elsewhere  who  could  stand  against  it.  The  Uni- 
versity is  adequately  protected,  for  one  thing,  by  the 
20,000  of  its  former  students  scattered,  in  large  part  in 
positions  of  influence,  from  Chicago  to  Cairo;  for 
another  by  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  farmers 
and  others  directly  benefited  by  it;  for  still  another, 
by  a  press  which  has  come  to  take  a  pride  in 
it;  and  finally,  by  the  influence  of  the  two  other 
great  universities  in  Illinois,  naturally  jealous  of  the 
academic  position.    When  early  in  1914  a  dissension 


UNIVERSITY  PROGRESSIVENESS         349 

in  the  Board  of  Trustees  threatened  the  place  of  Presi- 
dent James,  and  he  left  the  question  of  his  going  or 
staying  to  the  faculty  vote  which  unanimously  sustained 
him,  public  impatience  with  any  attempt  by  the  Trustees 
to  interfere  on  political  grounds  with  the  University 
was  forcibly  expressed.  "If  we  know  the  conditions  of 
our  own  well-being,"  said  the  Chicago  Tribune,  "if  we 
understand  and  honor  the  principles  and  ideals  of  our 
country,  we  shall  guard  jealously  the  freedom  of  our 
schools,  and  we  shall  punish  swiftly  and  certainly  any 
man  or  interest  which  attacks  that  freedom."  Gov. 
Dunne  wrote  the  President  that ' '  politics  must  not  enter 
into  consideration  of  the  University,  and  whatever  may 
be  our  affiliation  with  political  parties,  they  should  be 
forgotten  in  the  execution  of  our  business  as  Trustees  of 
the  University."  Only  meddling  by  the  University  in 
politics  could  invite  the  meddling  of  politics  in  the 
University,  and  the  former  everyone  at  the  institution 
is  eager  to  avoid — President  James  in  1916  offering  as 
one  reason  for  declining  to  run  for  the  Governorship  his 
belief  that  no  one  should  regard  the  post  he  occupied 
as  a  stepping  stone  to  State  preferment. 

That  the  University  has  been  proud  of  large  numbers, 
that  it  has  even  had  faculty  members  who  have  con- 
founded bigness  and  greatness,  cannot  be  denied.  In 
extenuation  it  can  be  pleaded  that  it  once  had  to  appeal 
for  legislative  support  on  the  ground  of  its  size.  Cer- 
tainly it  had  never  exaggerated  its  numbers  even  for 
this  purpose,  after  the  fashion  of  the  Kansas  farmer 
who  advertised  thirty-two  head  of  stock,  which  on  exam- 
ination were  found  to  consist  of  two  cows,  two  horses, 
and  twenty-eight  hens.  Moreover,  it  has  tried  to  appeal 
to  the  imagination  of  the  State,  and  its  faith  in  the 
future  has  been  of  the  sort  that  justifies  itself.    When 


350         UNIVERSITY  PROGRESSIVENESS 

the  architect  was  ordered  to  plan  for  a  total  registra- 
tion of  ten  thousand  in  the  near  future,  when  the  li- 
brarian was  asked  to  plan  for  millions  of  volumes, 
when  President  James  has  spoken  of  making  Urbana 
the  intellectual  center  of  the  Middle  West,  when  he  has 
offered  the  opinion  that  in  two  decades  the.  School 
of  Commerce  might  well  have  2,000  students,  it  meant 
simply  that  the  University  was  at  once  expressing  a 
hope  and  making  ready  for  a  possibility.  It  has  tried 
to  rouse  the  commonwealth  to  the  vision  of  a  university 
which  will  give  a  college  education  not  to  the  fortunate 
few  but  to  the  huge  numbers  of  the  genuinely  ambitious 
and  capable ;  and  it  has  never  been  able  to  get  the  State 
to  make  provision  more  rapidly  than  the  occasion  de- 
manded. The  two  great  crimes  which  a  university  can 
commit  in  its  zeal  for  size  are  against  the  high  schools 
whose  pupils  it  accepts  with  insufficient  preparation, 
and  against  men  attracted  by  advertisements  of  courses 
which  it  gives  in  inadequate  fashion.  Since  its  first 
years  it  has  urged  the  secondary  schools  of  Illinois  to- 
wards higher  standards  as  fast  as  circumstances  would 
permit.  It  was  once  guilty  of  the  second  fault  in  con- 
nection with  its  medical  college,  but  it  paid  for  its  error, 
and  in  no  other  department  has  it  failed  to  redeem  its 
promises. 

The  accusation  that  the  State  University  takes  itself 
too  seriously  as  a  leader  must  be  countered  at  an  institu- 
tion like  Illinois  by  the  assertion  that  to  do  so  is  im- 
possible— that  its  natural  function  is  that  of  leader,  and 
it  cannot  too  thoroughly  fulfill  it.  The  difference  in  the 
point  of  view  of  most  young  and  most  old  institutions 
in  this  matter  is  natural,  and  it  is  unnecessary  to  con- 
demn either.  A  long-established,  endowed  university 
builds  with  the  greatest  carej  it  develops  its  depart- 


ACADEMIC  BOLDNESS  351 

ments  and  functions  slowly,  and  refuses  experiments 
which  would  impair  its  prestige;  it  has  been  decades 
in  winning  a  secure  place  in  many  fields,  and  it  does 
not  believe  that  a  great  departmental  work  can  be  built 
up  except  on  the  firmest  basis.  Columbia  University, 
offered  support  by  the  business  men  of  New  York  in 
establishing  a  school  of  business,  waited  for  over  a 
decade  because  of  her  belief  that  the  field  of  such  a 
school  was  imperfectly  outlined,  the  curriculum  too 
vaguely  defined,  the  uncertainties  of  its  reaction  on,  the 
older  courses  still  too  numerous.  Illinois  rushed  pre- 
cipitately into  the  establishment  of  a  school  of  com- 
merce, content  to  develop  her  own  methods  and  estab- 
lish her  own  following,  and  accepting  without  question 
the  necessity,  forced  upon  her  by  her  environment, 
of  making  the  school  an  undergraduate  rather  than  an 
advanced  one  like  Dartmouth's,  or  a  graduate  one  like 
Harvard's.  The  State  University  lays  itself  open  to 
mistakes,  temporarily  damaging  to  itself  and  perhaps 
injurious  also  to  small  bodies  of  students  involved  in 
these  experiments.  But  so  much  practical  foresight 
goes  into  all  the  ventures  of  the  sort  at  Illinois  that 
mistakes  will  be  small  and  very  rare ;  while  the  youthful 
communities  of  the  Middle  West  need  just  this  em- 
phasis on  opportunity  and  expediency.  The  law  school, 
the  music  school,  the  graduate  school,  were  all  for  a  time 
avowedly  weak.  The  University  admitted  that  they  were 
not  yet  upon  their  feet,  kept  them  open  for  those  who 
had  no  better  place  to  go  and  who  could  not  therefore 
legitimately  complain,  and  in  time  so  interested  the 
State  that  they  were  made  at  first  respectable  and  then 
vigorous.  Such  a  policy  was  necessary  in  order  to  teach 
the  State  that  law,  music,  and  graduate  work  could 
profitably  be  offered  at  Urbana  j  without  such  leadership 


352  ACADEMIC  BOLDNESS 

the  democracy  would  never  have  appropriated  money 
for  them.  The  success  of  some  new  ventures,  as  that  in 
ceramics,  has  been  instant  and  amazing ;  that  of  others, 
as  the  mining  and  railway  courses,  still  hangs  in  the 
balance.  Universities  that  depend  on  private  philan- 
thropists can  often  wring  from  private  sources  a  gift 
huge  enough  to  guarantee  a  firm  foundation  for  a  novel 
departure  from  the  start;  popular  communities  cannot 
thus  be  approached.  It  may  be  galling  to  old  institu- 
tions to  see  headstrong  young  neighbors  rush  into  enter- 
prises at  which  they,  with  all  their  strength  and 
purposefulness,  hesitate,  but  the  young  neighbors  are 
following  the  proper  course. 

Since  the  passage  of  the  mill  tax  act  there  need  be  no 
new  developments  planned  at  Illinois  upon  hazardously 
small  resources.  Despite  some  difficulties  inherent  in 
the  operation  of  the  law,  it  will  now  be  possible  for  the 
University  to  accumulate  a  reserve  fund  preparatory  to 
any  new  venture;  and  the  certainty  of  the  financial 
future  will  permit  of  planning  upon  more  permanent 
lines  from  the  beginning.  The  provisional  period  of  im- 
mature growth  can  be  shortened.  At  the  same  time, 
Illinois  and  its  neighbors  will  never  lose  the  boldness 
of  policy  that  has  characterized  them,  and  the  University 
will  always  feel  that  service  to  the  community  impels 
it  to  the  exploration  of  new  educational  fields.  Presi- 
dent James,  following  Altgeld  and  Draper,  asserted 
long  ago  that  it  should  be  so  comprehensive  that  no  son 
or  daughter  of  the  State  should  have  to  leave  her  bor- 
ders for  training.  The  present  limitations  of  the  Uni- 
versity, the  steady  expansion  of  educational  horizons, 
will  make  it  impossible  to  act  upon  this  principle  with- 
out a  consistently  progressive  plan  of  action.  The  State 
University  cannot  be  held  within  narrow  limits  of  tradi- 


ROUNDING  THE  UNIVERSITY  353 

tional  cultural  development,  but  must  keep  itself  in  the 
forefront  of  the  State's  advancing  economic  and  social 
life,  with  which  the  State's  culture,  in  the  broadest 
sense,  must  always  be  bound  up. 

President  James's  reference  to  the  charge  that  the 
State  University  in  general,  and  Illinois  in  particular,  is 
wanting  in  intellectual  enthusiasms  and  cultural  ideak, 
addressed  to  the  new-made  alumni,  embodied  a  question- 
ing appeal.  "A  gentleman  told  me  not  long  ago  that  he 
would  not  send  his  son  to  a  State  University  because 
while  he  believed  it  was  efficient  in  its  own  way,  it 
emphasized  the  wrong  things.  It  aims  to  fit  men  to 
make  a  living,  instead  of  to  live.  It  begets  all  those 
undesirable  qualities  which  are  bound  to  grow  up  in 
such  an  environment.  .  .  .  My  friends,  you  know  more 
about  some  aspects  of  this  than  I  do,  or  than  the  mem- 
bers of  the  faculty.  You  know  whether  low  ideals  .  .  . 
prevail  among  members  of  the  student  body.  You  know 
whether  you  or  your  fellows  are  willing  to  descend  to 
improper  means  to  accomplish  their  ends.  You  know 
what  attitude  the  average  student  has  towards  the  in- 
stitution and  the  State.  .  .  .  You  know  whether  there 
is  any  real  truth  in  any  of  these  charges.  Now  all  I  can 
ask  is,  if  they  are  true,  then  .  .  .  help  us,  so  far  as  the 
weight  of  your  influence  as  alumni  goes,  to  get  rid  of 
them."  But  that  the  charge  has  been  greatly  exag- 
gerated neither  he  nor  anyone  else  has  felt  a  moment's 
doubt.  The  University  is  better  developed  on  its  tech- 
nical and  industrial  sides  than  on  its  cultural;  its 
students  are  in  general  brought  from  homes  with  less 
leisure  and  with  more  practical  aims  than  those  of  older 
parts  of  the  country,  and  they  are  less  interested  in 
pure  learning  than  the  homogenous  undergraduates  of 
some  colleges  of  the  liberal  arts.    But  the  one-sidedness 


354  ROUNDING  THE  UNIVERSITY 

of  the  institution  is  being  fast  corrected,  and  it  is  to 
be  doubted  if  the  student  body  differs  essentially  from 
those  of  Eastern  universities.  The  definitely  cultural 
branches  are  by  no  means  neglected,  the  vocational 
branches  are  surrounded  with  as  cultural  an  atmosphere 
as  possible,  the  University  cherishes  its  idealism  in  its 
own  way,  and  the  average  student  emerges  with  an 
interest  in  intellectual  things  different  in  kind,  but  not 
in  degree,  from  that  of  the  East. 

The  only  ground  for  believing  in  an  inherent  de- 
ficiency of  culture  in  the  State  University  would  lie  in 
some  opposition  between  the  democratic  ideal  and  the 
intellectual  ideal ;  and  the  only  believers  in  that  opposi- 
tion are  those  who  are  ignorant  of  the  deeper  sentiment 
of  the  people  of  the  West.  The  foundation  the  Uni- 
versity has  already  laid  for  cultural  training  of  the  best 
sort  is  broad  and  substantial.  As  several  observers 
have  pointed  out,  it  is  inspiring  to  see  the  practical 
idealism  disseminated  by  a  State  University  like  Illinois 
working  as  a  leaven  in  the  social  lump.  The  young 
lawyers,  engineers,  and  business  men  emerge  from  their 
classes  expert,  clear-headed,  and  honest,  to  confront  the 
muddler,  wastrel,  and  grafter;  the  farmers  are  scat- 
tered over  the  State  to  make  lonely  countrysides  social 
in  the  best  sense,  attractive  to  live  in,  and  productive 
beyond  the  dreams  of  the  older  generation ;  the  girls  of 
the  University  plunge  into  social  settlements,  the  work 
of  organized  charities,  and  rural  community  labors  in  a 
fashion  thoroughly  characteristic  of  the  West.  The  tech- 
nical talent  of  the  University  is  employed  through  both 
alumni  and  faculty  to  give  to  those  who  a  generation  ago 
were  easily  exploiting  natural  wealth  a  new  conception 
of  their  responsibilities  and  opportunities ;  the  University 
is  softening  the  individualism  of  post-pioneer  days,  and 


THE  UNIVERSITY'S  FUTURE  355 

accomplishing'  the  socialization  of  legislation ;  it  is  eager 
to  assist  an  eager  generation  to  comprehend  more  of  art, 
literature,  and  the  finer  things  of  life.  It  is  helping 
teach  the  democracy  to  stand  on  its  own  feet,  make  its 
own  way,  and  obtain  whatever  its  enthusiasm  and 
judgment  teach  it  is  desirable. 

The  high  school  and  the  State  University  as  naturally 
go  together  as  do  the  expensive  preparatory  school  and 
the  expensive  endowed  university;  and  it  is  no  less 
absurd  to  say  that  the  high  school  is  necessarily  inferior 
to  the  preparatory  school  than  to  say  that  the  State 
University  is  inferior  to  the  endowed  college.  As  Prof. 
Sherman  remarks,  the  problem  i«  in  part  one  of  financial 
means  based  on  popular  determination.  "It  is  absurd 
to  assert  that  the  united  will  and  means  of  two  or  three 
million  citizens  cannot  compete  successfully  with  the 
sporadic  generosity  of  two  or  three  score  of  private 
individuals.  It  is  absurd  to  declare  that  a  great  com- 
monwealth cannot  afford  at  its  university  a  liberal  arts 
college  of  absolutely  first  class.  ...  To  speak  in  the 
brutal  language  of  the  market,  we  have  yet  to  hear  that 
a  high-grade  professor  of  philosophy  is  a  dearer  com- 
modity than  a  high-grade  professor  of  civil  engineering, 
or  a  high-grade  instructor  in  classics  than  a  high-grade 
instructor  in  manual  arts.  The  higher  and  the  lower 
technical  education  which  have  already  been  provided 
are  not  less,  but  more,  costly  than  equivalent  provision 
for  the  humanities.  It  is  equally  absurd  that  the  sup- 
port of  the  people  cannot  be  organized  except  for  ma- 
terial interests  and  self-regarding  ends ;  in  the  humblest 
walks,  as  history  blazons,  it  can  be  organized  for  the 
adoration  of  God  and  the  recovery  of  the  Holy  Sepul- 
cher."  Granted  that  the  lack  of  the  traditions  and  sur- 
roundings of  a  more  highly  organized  society  than  that 


356  THE  UNIVERSITY'S  FUTUKE 

of  the  West  may  hamper  the  efforts  of  Illinois  to  build 
up  a  well-rounded  strength,  granted  that  the  supply  of 
high-grade  university  teachers  is  inadequate  to  the  de- 
mand and  that  an  institution  must  have  reputation  and 
an  atmosphere  of  scholarly  emulation  as  well  as  money 
to  attract  some  men,  it  is  still  possible  for  Illinois  slowly 
to  overcome  all  handicaps. 

Within  sight  of  the  towers  of  the  University,  in  the 
farming  country  to  the  south,  stands  a  familiar  old 
schoolhouse  which  was  built  at  much  the  same  time  as 
University  Hall,  and  which,  battered,  ill-designed,  and 
cramped,  expresses  fairly  well  the  crudity  of  public  edu- 
cation in  Illinois  in  the  days  of  Newton  Bateman  and 
John  M.  Gregory,  for  it  is  the  type  of  the  general  school- 
house  of  that  time.  To  look  at  it  is  to  appreciate  the 
poverty  and  bareness  out  of  which  the  people  of  Illinois 
had  to  build  their  educational  structure,  and  to  turn 
from  it  to  the  towers  is  to  appreciate  better  the  propor- 
tions and  strength  of  this  structure  as  it  is  now  crowned 
in  the  University.  In  forty-nine  years  the  State  has 
raised  in  these  corn  fields  an  institution  impressive  in 
itself  and  for  what  it  stands.  Many  doubtless  regarded 
Turner  and  his  fellows  as  visionary  when  they  tried  to 
picture  the  fruits  of  the  educational  scheme  that  Douglas 
thought  one  of  the  grandest  that  had  occurred  to  any 
man.  Yet  Turner  himself,  even  had  he  known  the  Uni- 
versity would  pursue  broader  lines  than  those  he  had 
planned  for  it,  would  hardly  have  believed  that  in  a 
half-century  some  eight  hundred  men  would  be  teaching 
in  its  sixty  halls ;  that  to  it  would  be  drawn  seven  thou- 
sand students  yearly,  trained  in  an  elaborate  school  sys- 
tem to  which  the  University  contributed  much ;  that  its 
extension  activities  would  reach  to  every  community 


THE  UNIVERSITY'S  FUTURE  357 

and  would  influence  not  merely  the  *'  industrial  "  call- 
ings but  most  others  in  Illinois.  None  of  the  shortcom- 
ings or  discouragements  of  the  University  can  daunt  it  in 
the  face  of  its  history. 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX  A 
GROWTH  OF  UNIVERSITY  BY  YEARS 


Faculty 

Students 

Degrees 

BookB 

Build- 

Year 

03 

3 

Total, 
Urban  a 

=3 

a 

Total, 
Urbana 

Biennial 

and 

X! 

and 

ings 

income 

& 

Chicago 

u> 

Chicago 

1867-68 

4 

77 

1 

$      72,753.85 

1868-69 

11 

128 

1,092 

1 

1869-70 

19 

180 

8,646 

1 

133,278.72 

1870-71 

19 

278 

4,638 

1 

1871-72 

24 

381 

20 

7,307 

1 

163,102.47 

1872-73 

25 

400 

14 

8,427 

2 

1873-74 

25 

406 

19 

10,000 

3 

123,459.30 

1874-76 

30 

373 

37 

3 

1875-76 

27 

386 

28 

3 

183,870.11 

1876-77 

36 

388 

41 

3 

1877-78 

29 

377 

42 

4 

170,999.43 

1878-79 

33 

416 

23 

4 

1879-80 

30 

434 

25 

12,550 

3 

133,088.89 

1880-81 

28 

379 

46 

3 

1881-82 

26 

352 

34 

13,610 

3 

129,620.63 

1882-83 

24 

382 

36 

3 

1883-84 

25 

330 

42 

14,000 

3 

141,032.79 

1884-85 

27 

362 

45 

3 

1885-86 

29 

332 

37 

15,800 

8 

149,677.77 

1888-87 

29 

343 

30 

3 

1887-88 

29 

377 

34 

17.288 

3 

180,959.97 

1888-89 

30 

418 

26 

3 

1889-90 

32 

469 

43 

19,000 

3 

237,178.23 

1890-91 

39 

519 

49 

8 

1891-98 

43 

583 

42 

21,216 

4 

359,144.14 

1892-93 

48 

714 

65 

4 

1893-94 

67 

718 

69 

5 

491,940.55 

1894  95 

80 

810 

74 

27,750 

6 

1895-96 

84 

855 

82 

28,200 

9 

£94.938.40 

1896-97 

170 

878 

1,059 

95 

137 

30,100 

12 

1897-98 

184 

1,034 

1,582 

89 

232 

86.990 

13 

607,632.00 

1898-99 

194 

1,152 

1,824 

110 

265 

41,678 

12 

1899-1900 

229 

1,531 

2,260 

153 

328 

44,502 

13 

947,486.98 

1900-01 

242 

1,709 

2,564 

174 

388 

47,074 

15 

1901-02 

279 

2,020 

3,016 

183 

484 

52,717 

18 

1,363,716.08 

1902-03 

316 

2,342 

3,381 

229 

525 

57,594 

18 

1903-04 

351 

2,674 

3,716 

312 

677 

66,6.39 

19 

1,814,863.78 

1904-05 

350 

2,779 

3,786 

295 

616 

74,326 

27 

1905  06 

408 

3,225 

4,107 

313 

618 

83,136 

27 

2,166,372.29 

1906-07 

442 

3,577 

4,341 

390 

608 

5)5,946 

28 

1907  08 

472 

3,959 

4,770 

408 

721 

10K,2fi3 

32 

3,102.761.42 

1908-09 

497 

4.141 

4,996 

568 

799 

127,100 

3:j 

1909-10 

538 

4,. 323 

5,131 

584 

766 

157,836 

35 

3,199,a32.34 

1910-11 

555 

4,401 

5,217 

602 

792 

180,.371 

36 

1911-12 

583 

4,340 

5,200 

640 

856 

209,529 

44 

4,294,952.88 

1912- 13 

587 

4,369 

5.096 

682 

745 

2,33, 5H6 

46 

1913-14 

704 

4,7C6 

5,560 

851 

1,032 

262.926 

47 

5.622,928.87 

1914-15 

739 

5,446 

6,004 

814 

983 

.300.5-2 

53 

1915-16 

762 

6.298 

6,4,37 

932 II 

1,12611 

3.30.895 

60 

6,200,000.00 

1916-17 

840 

6.759 

6,828* 

379,045 1 

60t 

*  February  21,  1917.  tin  addition  March  1,  1917,  there  were  80..351  paniphletfi  ; 
4,072  pieces  of  sheet  music;  3,180  maps,  and  in  the  libraries  of  the  College  of  Medi- 
cine and  School  of  Pharmacy  in  CUiicago,  21,197  volumes  ;  4,150  pami)liletB  ,  and 
8  maps.  In  addition  to  the^e  catalogueil  paniptiletB,  are  a  t'reat  many  uiiclasKified 
pamphlets,  circulars,  travelint;  guides  and  catalogues.  J  Four  additional  hnild- 
ings  in  Chicago;  51  of  these  64  buildings  have  a  valuation  in  excess  of  $5,000. 
Figures  as  at  March  1,  1017.  i  The  toial  number  of  degrees  conferred  in  Urbana 
is  9,433 ;  in  Urbana  and  Chicago,  13,701,  up  to  June,  1916. 

859 


360  APPENDIX 


APPENDIX  B 

BUILDINGS— 1868-1916 

Buildings  Begun  Under  Regents  Gregory  and  Peabody 

Drill  Hall,  authorized  April,  1871,  dedicated  October  13,  1872 ;  cost, 
including  mechanical  shop,  workshop,  and  furnishings,  $25,000.  Uni- 
versity Hall,  authorized  June,  1871,  corner  stone  laid  September  13, 
1872;  completed  1873  at  contract  cost  of  $113,954  (Bd.  Minutes,  1870, 
p.  129),  permanent  additions  made  to  value  of  $5,670.62,  total  cost 
$150,000.  Chemical  Laboratory,  later  Laio  Building,  authorized 
September,  1877,  completed  1878,  repaired  1902;  contract  cost  $23,896, 
permanent  additions  made  1910  to  value  of  $23,700,  total  cost  $47,596. 
Old  Armory,  successively  called  Neiv  Drill  Hall,  Military  Hall,  and 
Armory,  authorized  June,  1889,  dedicated  June  11,  1890;  cost  by  con- 
tract (appropriation  $10,000,  $4,037.05  added  to  complete,  and  Dean 
Ricker  given  $350  for  services)  $15,220.29,  permanent  additions  made 
to  value  of  $4,969  (Bd.  Minutes,  1892,  p.  36),  total  cost  $20,189.43. 
Natural  History  Building,  authorized  December,  1890,  corner  stone  laid 
March  9,  1892;  cost  by  contract  $58,519.50,  total  cost  $70,000  (see 
New  Natural  History  Building,  below). 

Buildings  Begun  Under  Acting  Regent  Burrill  and  President  Draper 

Power  Plant  (old),  authorized  December,  1892,  erected  1897-1902; 
contract  cost,  with  equipment,  service  mains,  etc.,  $87,500,  permanent 
additions  made  to  value  of  $8,000,  total  cost  $95,500.  Engineering 
Building,  authorized  October,  1893,  dedicated  November  15,  1894,  occu- 
pied January,  1895;  contract  cost  $121,396,  total  cost  $160,000. 
Metal  Shops,  authorized  and  erected  1895  ;  total  cost  $20,000.  Presi- 
dent's House,  authorized  December,  1895,  erected  1896 ;  contract  cost 
$5,000  (appropriated  by  legislature),  total  cost  $15,000.  Observatory, 
authorized  and  erected  1896 ;  contract  cost  $6,654,  total  cost  $15,000. 
Electrical  Laboratory,  erected  1897 ;  total  cost  $40,000.  Library, 
authorized  May,  1896,  erected  1897;  contract  cost  $131,000  (not  in- 
cluding $9,500  in  fixtures  and  $4,952  in  plumbing  and  heating), 
permanent  additions  made  to  value  of  $31,305,  total  cost  (without 
fixtures,  plumbing,  heating)  $196,000.  Agricultural  Buildinci.  author- 
ized December,  1898,  erected  1900 ;  contract  cost  $152,266.20  (not 
Including  $26,428  for  plumbing  and  heating),  permanent  additions  to 
value  of  $28,275.30,  total  cost  $180,501.50.  Pumping  Station,  author- 
ized and  erected  1901 ;  total  cost  $8,000.  Gymnasium,  authorized 
May,  1901,  erected  1901 ;  cost,  with  Laboratory  of  Applied  Mechanics 
and  Wood  Shop,  $67,342,  permanent  additions  to  value  of  $11,759, 
total  cost  $79,101.  Chemical  Laboratory,  authorized  and  built  1902 ; 
total  cost,  with  heating  and  lighting  fixtures,  $180,000.  Minor  Agri- 
cultural erections,  1868-1904,  total  cost  $24,000. 

Buildings  Erected  Under  President  James,  1904-1916 

Woman's  Building,  authorized  June.  1904 :  contract  price  (with 
$6,000  for  plumbing  and  heating)  $69,880  ;  addition  authorized  1911, 
erected  1911-12 ;  contract  cost  $83,936,  permanent  additions  to  value 


APPENDIX  361 

APPENDIX  B— Continued 

BUILDINQS-1868-1916 

of  $15,030,  total  cost  $190,000.  Agronomy  Building,  authorized  June, 
1904,  erected  1905 ;  contract  cost,  with  Beef  Cattle  Barns  and  Horti- 
cultural Field  Laboratory,  $50,500,  total  cost  $59,000.  Entomology 
Building,  authorized  and  erected  1905  ;  contract  cost  $5,000,  of  which 
$3,000  from  State,  $2,000  from  agricultural  funds,  total  cost  $8,000. 
Auditorium,  authorized  June,  1905,  erected  1908;  contract  cost  $115,- 
961.58  ($20,000  allowed  in  excess  of  contract),  permanent  additions 
to  value  of  $27,192  (including  organ),  total  cost  $143,143.58.  Mechan- 
ical Engineering  Laboratory,  erected  1905 ;  total  cost  $36,000.  Farm 
Mechanics,  authorized  April,  1906,  erected  1907-11 ;  contract  cost 
$31,082  (not  including  $2,414  for  plumbing  and  heating),  total  cost 
$33,000.  Natural  History  Building,  authorized  July,  1908,  erected  1909 ; 
contract  cost  $120,672  ($5,000  beyond  contract  included),  permanent 
additions  to  value  of  $6,650,  total  cost  $245,000.  Physics  Building, 
authorized  July,  1908,  erected  1908;  contract  cost  $175,626  (not  includ- 
ing $50,000  for  fixtures),  total  cost  $225,000.  Ceramics,  authorized 
November,  1909,  erected  1910,  occupied  1911 ;  contract  cost  $40,331, 
total  cost  $41,966.85.  Lincoln  Hall,  authorized  April,  1910,  erected 
1911  ;  contract  cost  $221,700  (not  including  $40,000  for  fixtures),  total 
cost  $261,700.  Commerce  Building,  authorized  October,  1910,  erected 
1912 ;  contract  cost  $89,980,  permanent  additions  to  value  of  $4,300, 
total  cost  $100,000.  Neiv  Armory,  authorized  June,  1911,  erected  1915  ; 
contract  cost  $100,000,  total  cost  $229,119.17,  eventual  cost  $250,000. 
Transportation  Building,  authorized  December,  1911,  erected  1912; 
contract  cost  $83,250,  additions  to  value  of  $3,000,  total  cost  $86,250. 
Ceramics  and  Mining  Laboratories,  authorized  December,  1911,  built 
1912 ;  contract  cost  and  total  cost,  including  $3,000  for  kiln  house, 
$29,019.12.  Locomotive  Testing  Laboratory,  authorized  and  built  1912  ; 
total  cost  $25,000.  Stock  Pavilion,  authorized  January,  1913,  built 
1913;  contract  cost  $80,000  exclusive  of  fixtures,  total  cost  $113,000. 
Administration  Building,  authorized  August,  1914,  erected  1915 ;  con- 
tract cost  $110,608,  permanent  additions  to  value  of  $2,673,  total  cost 
$154,715  (contract  let  In  combination  with  Chemistry  Addition). 
Ceramics,  contract  let  June,  1915,  building  erected  1915 ;  cost  by  con- 
tract $78,530  (exclusive  of  $20,318  for  heating,  plumbing,  etc.),  total 
cost  $120,880.50.  Vivarium,  authorized  June,  1915,  erected  1910 ;  con- 
tract cost  $28,952  (exclusive  of  $13,031  for  plumbing,  heating,  fur- 
nishings, etc.),  total  cost  $55,204.93.  Chemistry  Addition,  authorized 
August,  1915,  erected  1916;  total  cost  of  building  $360,956,  furniture 
and  equipment  $96,300,  cost  with  old  building  $540,956.  Among  minor 
buildings  erected  between  1908  and  1015  are  the  Oenctics  Building, 
total  cost  $11,127  ;  Dairy  barns  and  buildinr/s,  total  cost  $23,000  ;  build- 
ings for  floriculture,  vegetable  and  plant  breeding,  total  cost  $86,000; 
minor  agricultural  buildings,  total  cost  $12,000;  and  the  new  Power 
Plant,  total  cost  (with  mains,  etc.)  $185,000.  The  chief  buildings 
under  construction  since  1916  are  the  Women's  Residence  Hall,  to  cost 
about  $150,000  (unfurnished)  ;  Education  Building,  to  cost  about 
$205,000;  and  »Sf»)i7/i  Memorial  Music  Building,  to  cost,  without  organ, 
about  $265,000. 


362  APPENDIX 

APPENDIX  C 

SUMMARY  OF  DEGREES,  1915  and  1916, 

Baccalaureate  Degrees                                                         ^9^5  1916 

A.B.,  College  of  Liberal  Arts  and  Sciences 253  228 

B.L.,  College  of  Liberal  Arts  and  Sciences 2 

B.S.,  College  of  Liberal  Arts  and  Sciences 35  21 

A.B.,  College  of  Commerce  and  Business  Admin- 
istration    69 

B.S.,  College  of  Engineering 195  223 

B.  S. .  College  of  Agriculture 136  189 

B.  Mus.,  School  of  Music 10  7 

Total 631  737 

Degrees  in  the  Graduate  School 

A.M 69  52 

M.S 48  53 

C.E 8  10 

E.E 3  5 

M.E 1  5 

M.Arch 1 

E.M 1 

Ph.D 28  33 

Total 148  159 

Degrees  in  Law 

LL.B 19  21 

J.D 2  4 

Total 21  25 

Degrees  in  Library  Science 

B.L.S 14  11 

Total,  Colleges  and  Schools  in  Urbana. ...  814  932 
Degrees  in  Medicine 

B.S 4  12 

M.D 102  109 

Total 106  121 

Degrees  in  Dentistry 

D.D.S 19  82 

Degrees  in  Pharmacy 

Ph.G 40  89 

P11.C 4  3 

Total 44  42 

Total,  Departments  in  Chicago 169  195 

Total,  all  Departments 983  1127 


APPENDIX 


363 


APPENDIX  D 

GROWTH  OF  AGRICULTURAL  COLLEGE  AND  EXPERIMENT 

STATION 


Year 

Federal  funds 

State 
appropriations 

u 

P 

«  5 

^2 

'S'S 

ff 

ss 

College 

Station 

College 

Station 

Ph 

w  Ji 

2 

o« 

1890-91 

$  5,000 

$15,000 

3 

19 

2 

1891-92 

5,000 

15,000 

3 

5 

2 

189:i-93 

5,000 

15,000 

3 

36 

2 

1893-94 

5,000 

15,000 

3 

4 

1 

2 

1894-95 

5,000 

15,000 

3 

9 

1895-96 

7,000 

15,000 

3 

13 

1896-97 

7,000 

15,000 

6 

15 

2 

1897-98 

7,000 

15,000 

H 

17 

2 

1898-99 

7,000 

15,000 

9 

22 

4 

1899-1900 

28,000 

15,000 

16 

87 

2 

1900-01 

28,000 

15,000 

17 

150 

4 

1901-02 

28,000 

15,000 

$     8,000 

$  54, 000 

23 

211 

4 

1902-03 

28,000 

15,000 

8,000 

54,000 

27 

242 

9 

1903-04 

28,000 

15,000 

61,000 

85,000 

.37 

291 

10 

1904-05 

28,000 

15,000 

61,000 

85,000 

37 

332 

18 

1905-06 

28,500 

20.000 

61,000 

95,000 

44 

428 

24 

9 

1906-07 

28,500 

22,000 

61,000 

95,000 

50 

445 

43 

10 

1907-08 

31,000 

24,000 

71,000 

102,500 

fil- 

483 

38 

17 

1908-09 

33,500 

26,000 

71,000 

102,500 

es 

526 

54 

15 

1909-10 

36,000 

28,000 

55,000 

138,000 

74 

628 

49 

23 

1910-11 

38,500 

30,000 

55.000 

138,000 

74 

712 

51 

98 

1911-12 

41,000 

30,000 

♦476,150 



100 

818 

68 

27 

1912-13 

41,000 

30,000 

♦476,150 

120 

879 

95 

22 

1913-14 

41,000 

30,000 

♦470,490 

137 

982 

142 

88 

1914-15 

41,000 

30,000 

♦470,490 

149 

1186 

136 

51 

1915-16 

41,000 

30,000 

♦460,615 

153 

1230 

188 

75 

*  Appropriated  in  one  lump  sum  after  1911  for  college  and  station. 


APPENDIX  E 
ENTRANCE  REQUIREMENTS,  1904-1916 


Units  required  for  admission 

1904 
1905 

13^ 
13^ 
13)^ 
131^ 
13^ 

XX 

131^ 
**1 

XX 

1905 
1906 

14 

14 
14 
14 
14 

XX 

14 

♦*2 

tt 

1906 
1907 

14 
14 
14 
14 
14 

XX 

14 

**4 

+t 

1907 
1908 

14 
14 
14 
14 
14 

XX 

14 

♦♦4 

**1 

1908 
1909 

15 
15 
15 
15 
15 

XX 

15 

tt 

**1 
15 

1909 
1910 

15 
15 
16 
15 
15 

XX 

15 

15 

♦*1 
15 

1910 
1911 

15 
15 
15 
15 
15 

XX 

15 
15 

♦♦1 
16 

1911 
1912 

15 
15 
15 

15 

X 

15 
15 

♦*1 
15 

1912 
1913 

15 
15 
15 
16 

X 

15 
15 

**1 
15 

1913 
1914 

15 
15 
15 
15 

* 

X 

• 

15 

**1 
15 

1914 
1915 

15 
15 
15 
15 

* 

1 

15 

♦♦2 
15 

1915 
1916 

Literature,  Arts,  and  Sci- 
ence   

15 

15 

Agriculture 

15 

Music 

15 

Law 

♦ 

Library  

4, 

Medicine 

15 

Pharmacy— 

Ph.Q .. 

Ph.C 

**2 
15 

•  One  year  college.  ♦♦Years  of  high  school. 

t  Ninety-eight  hours  college  credits.  tt  Accredited  high  school. 

%  Bachelor's  degree.  %%  Grammar  school. 

§Two  years  college.  xx  Three  years  college. 

Since  September  1, 1916.  the  School  of  Pharmacy,  the  last  to  require  full  accred- 
ited high  school  preparation  for  admission,  has  exacted  the  usual  fifteen  units  for 
the  course  leading  to  the  degree  of  Ph.G. 


364  APPENDIX 

APPENDIX  F 

TYPICAL  OPINIONS  OF  "  RURAL  "  IN  THE  CHICAGO  TRIBUNE. 

1867-1869 

[These  are  Included  as  representing  a  widely  shared  and  important 
point  of  view  at  the  time.] 

January  26,  1867.  "  It  is  nearly  five  years  since  the  grant  was 
made  by  Congress,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  present  General 
Assembly  will  locate  the  University  and  put  *  at  least  one  college ' 
in  active  operation  without  delay.  We  need  the  school  and  we  need 
the  experimental  farm,  where,  at  the  expense  of  the  State,  and  under 
the  supervision  of  some  of  our  best  cultivators,  we  may  be  able  to 
test  new  implements,  new  seeds,  new  modes  of  culture,  and  to  examine 
more  carefully  many  of  the  old  ones." 

January  18,  1868.  "  It  occurred  to  me  that  a  few  .  .  .  lessons 
on  our  varied  Industries  during  one  or  two  weeks  of  the  winter 
months  by  practical  men  before  an  audience  of  the  people  of  our 
Industrial  University  at  Champaign  would  be  a  better  employment 
of  the  people's  money  than  to  have  the  Regent  at  New  York  purchas- 
ing an  old  collection  of  secesh  fossils  called  a  cabinet." 

July  28,  1868.  [Speaking  of  a  trial  in  reaping  and  mowing.] 
"  The  trial  was  on  the  Industrial  University  Farm,  and  yet  neither 
the  Regent  nor  any  of  the  professors  thought  It  of  sufficient  interest 
to  be  in  attendance.  In  this  the  people  were  disappointed,  for,  aided 
by  the  '  sciences  relating  to  agriculture  and  mechanics,'  more  accurate 
results  might  have  been  attained  and  many  vexed  questions  perma- 
nently settled." 

August  15,  1868.  "  From  all  parts  of  the  State  there  comes  up 
a  demand  that  this  school  shall  aid  the  industries  and  let  the  pro- 
fessors take  care  of  themselves.  The  broken  promises  of  the  last 
term  may  be  forgotten  If  the  people  see  a  desire  to  attend  to  the 
work  for  which  this  school  was  especially  designed.  We  have  an 
experiment  in  our  midst  In  regard  to  Texas  cattle  and  the  Spanish 
fever.  Had  we  a  professor  of  veterinary  science  he  might  be  able  to 
shed  some  light  on  the  disease,  or  at  least  to  allay  public  excitement, 
to  ward  off  public  danger,  and  to  keep  people  within  the  bounds  of  the 
law.  But  neither  the  professor  of  languages,  of  English  literature,  of 
chemistry,  of  natural  philosophy,  of  mathematics,  or  rhetoric,  can  be 
of  much  use  in  this  case.  We  must  have  a  matter  of  fact,  a  scientific 
and  practical  knowledge  of  animal  diseases.  We  have  plenty  of 
schools  to  which  to  send  our  sons  and  daughters  for  a  polished  educa- 
tion, but  none  that  is  exclusively  designed,  like  this,  to  teach  them 
the  business  of  life  In  which  they  are  engaged." 

August  26,  1868.  "  Very  wisely  has  our  State  prohibited  our 
Industrial  University  from  the  granting  of  degrees.  She  only  awards 
certificates  of  progress  In  those  studies  that  underlie  her  Industries. 
We  are  thankful  that  our  State  law  never  contemplated  a  manual 
labor  school,  where,  like  Michigan,  It  might  turn  out  a  dozen  or  two 
farm  apprentices  instead  of  teaching  hundreds  of  the  sons  of  labor 
those  sciences  relating  to  the  industries  that  shall  give  our  State  a 
proud  preeminence  among  the  States  of  the  Northwest." 

September  30,  1868.  "  An  almost  daily  visit  for  the  past  two 
weeks  to  the  school  has  convinced  me  that  It  has  now  entered  on  a 
career  of  usefulness  that  will  be  gratifying  to  the  people  of  the  State. 
The  errors  of  the  beginning  are  rapidly  disappearing." 

November  4,  1868.  "  The  Institution  presents  a  singular  anomaly 
^a  school  for  the  industries  In  the  hands  of  the  so-called  learned 
professions.  How  long  agriculture  may  have  to  struggle  for  Its  rights 
is  yet  to  be  decided,  but  it  appears  to  me  that  the  time  may  be  at 
hand  when  theorists  and  dreamy  philosophers  will  no  longer  give 
direction  to  the  education  of  those  who  create  the  wealth  of  the  State 
and  furnish  the  ulnews  of  commerce." 


APPENDIX 


365 


APPENDIX  F— Continued 

May  14,  1869.  "  The  Committee  on  Faculty  and  Course  of  Study 
meet  in  Chicago  on  the  17th.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  committee 
will  read  the  law  organizing  the  University  and  see  if  a  course  of 
Btudy  and  term  of  school  cannot  be  constructed  so  as  to  meet  its 
requirements.  After  we  have  educated  farmers  and  mechanics  in  the 
sciences  relating  to  these  industries,  we  can  then  fit  all  who  wish  to 
become  Presidents,  Congressmen,  and  office-holders  at  our  leisure.  At 
present  the  demand  is  for  skilled  labor." 

June  18.  1869.  "  We  complain  that  the  Trustees  put  at  the  head 
of  our  Agricultural  College  a  mere  speech-maker,  a  man  ignorant  of 
agricultural  practise  and  science." 


APPENDIX  G 

SALARIES  > 


President,  vice-president,  deans, 
professora,    associate   profes- 

Associates,  iostractors, 

Salary 

Bora,  assistant  professors 

1903-4 

1913-14 

1915-16 

1903-4 

1913-14 

1915-16« 

Over  $6,000.... 

1 

2 

2 

, . ,. 

.... 

.... 

6000 

S 

3 

, , 

5,600 

6a 

5,000 

19 

17 

,. 

«... 

4,500 

1 

3 

.... 

.... 

4,000 

10 

12 

.... 

• .  .* 

3,800 

1 

,, 

.... 

8,500  to  3,750. . 

si 

Sla? 

, , 

2 

.... 

3,000  to  3,300. . 

3 

83 

33a 

4 

2,600  to  2.900. . 

4 

15 

20 

., 

.... 

2 

2,250  to  2,500. . 

12 

36 

24 

6 

6 

2,000  to  2,200.. 

26 

25 

27 

21 

33 

1,500  to  1.900.. 

23 

12 

i 

94 

116 

1,401  10  1,499.. 

.... 

1 

l.aOO  to  1.400.. 

i2 

.  •  • . 

9 

79 

121 

1,101  to  1,199.. 

.... 

1,000  to  1.100. . 

4b 

7b 

27 

65 

61 

Less  than  1,000 

107b 

74b 

123 

237 

112 

Without  galary 

53 

.... 

72 

Total 

192 

267 

232 

160 

493 

528 

a— 1  on  leave  of  absence  on  half  salary. 

?— 1  Emeritus  on  ^  salary. 

b — These  gave  instrnctioni  on  "  part  time  '  in  the  colleges  of  medicine  and 
dentistry  and  the  school  of  pharmacy. 

>  Thistable  does  not  include  part-time  professors,  instructors,  etc..  or  secreta- 
rles,  clerks,  etc.,  teaching  in  1915-16,  of  which  there  was  a  total  of  258.  For  1915-16 
there  were  218  graduates,  research  and  student  asBistants,  fellows  and  scholars 
receiving  less  than  $1,000,  and  5  without  salary. 


366 


APPENDIX 


APPENDIX  H 
ENROLLMENT  IN  COLLEGE  OP  ENGINEERING « 


Tear 


1903-04. 
1904-05. 
1905-06. 
190&-07. 
1907-08. 
1908-09. 
1909-10. 
1910-11. 
1911-12. 
1912-13. 
1913-14. 
1914-15. 
1915-16. 


Men 


Women 


782 

4 

786 

853 

10 

863 

955 

8 

963 

1,093 

6 

1,097 

1,180 

5 

1.185 

1,245 

5 

1,250 

1,297 

6 

1,303 

1,274 

1,274 

1,288 

2 

1,290 

1,159 

1 

1,160 

1,200 

2 

1,202 

1,187 

4 

1,191 

1.211 

4 

1.215 

Total 


>  The  attendance  of  students  at  the  college  of  engineering,  which  persistently 
decreased  from  1910  to  1913,  has  showed  an  increase  during  1913-14  and  1915-16, 
although  without  the  addition  in  1915-16  of  a  new  group  of  65  students  in  the 
department  of  ceramic  engineering,  then  included  in  the  college,  there  would  have 
been  an  actual  decline  again.  It  is  difficult  to  determine  what  the  future  will  be 
with  reference  to  attendance.  However,  it  is  probable  that  the  point  of  minimum 
enrollment  has  been  reached.  Attendance  has  decreased  in  other  engineering 
schools  ;  and  at  Illinois  it  appears  that  the  broadening  of  general  university  work 
is  attracting  students  to  other  fields  who  would  otherwise  have  entered  the  college. 
The  influence  of  the  new  college  of  commerce  and  business  administration  is 
especially  strong.  But  the  demands  of  the  engineering  profession  will  probably 
reassert  themBelves. 


INDEX 


Abbott,  W.  L.,  Trustee,  265 

Academy,  see  Preparatory  De- 
partment 

Administration  Building,  222, 
286 

Agricultural  Buildings,  166, 
174,  177,  222,  226,  284,  287 

Agricultural  Experiment  Sta- 
tion, under  Peabody,  123-124; 
under  Draper,  173-179;  un- 
der Jamea,  225,  226,  244, 
245;  relations  to  State,  329- 
333 

Agricultural  short  course,  148, 
149 

Agriculture,  College  of,  under 
Gregory,  67  ff.,  78  ff.;  under 
Peabody,  110-112;  under 
Draper,  166,  173-179;  under 
James,  224-227,  244,  245;  re- 
lations to  State,  329-333 

Alexander,  Mrs.  Carrie  T.,  215 

Allen,  Miss  Louise  (Mrs.  John 
M.   Gregory),   80  ff. 

Altgeld,  Gov.  John  P.,  142,  157- 
161,  164,  199 

Alumni,  activities  of,  under 
Peabody,  126  ff. ;  under 
James,  247  ff. 

Alumni  Directory,  248 

Alumni  Quarterly  {and  Port- 
nightly  Notes),  247,  248 

Alumni  Record,  248 

Alvord,  Prof.  Clarence  Wal- 
worth, 232,  271,  341-343 

American  Meat  Packers'  Asso- 
ciation, 337 

Amherst  College,  20 

Andrews,  Chancellor  E.  Ben- 
jamin, 211 


Angell,  President  James  B., 
122,  211 

Arkansas  State  University,  72, 
120 

Armories,  old  and  new,  61,  113, 
114,  221,  285,  286 

Amy,  W.  F.  M.,  agent  for  Illi- 
nois Industrial  League,  25 

Art  gallery,  74,  290 

Association  of  American  Medi- 
cal Colleges,  237,  238 

Association  of  Manufacturers 
of  Chilled  Car-Wheels,  336 

Atherton,  Prof.  George,  on 
original  faculty,  58;  assists 
to  pass  Hatch  Act,  105 

Athletic   celebrations,   312,   313 

Athletics,  under  Peabody,  131- 
133;  under  Draper,  201-204; 
under  James,  248-250,  298- 
300 

Auditorium,  219,  284,  285 

Aurora  Beacon,  attacks  Board, 
50 

Austria,  agricultural  colleges 
in,  21 


B 


Babcock,  J.  E.,  31 
Babcock,  Kendric  C,  232 
Bagley,  Prof.  W.  C,  232 
Baker,   Prof.   Ira  O.,   273,   276 
Baker,   Prof.   William,   58,   73, 

107 
Baptists,    influence   in   electing 

Gregory,  44 
Barton,  Prof.  H.  J.,  comes  to 

University,   108 
Bateman,  Newton,  State  Super- 
intendent of  Public  Instruc- 
tion,   12,   57 


867 


368 


INDEX 


Bavaria,  agricultural  colleges 
in,  21 

Beecher,  President  of  Illinois 
College,   13 

Beet  Sugar  Growers'  Associa- 
tion,   176,    196 

Bentley,  Prof.  Madison,  271 

Berean  College,  37 

Berg,  Prof.  E.  J.,  230 

Beta  Theta  Pi,  128 

Bevier,  Isabel,  183,  331 

Bicknell,  Percy,  168 

Big  Four  Railway,  181 

Blackall,  C.  H.,  219,  281 

Blair,  Prof.  J.  C,  175,  225 

Blanchard,  President,  of  Knox 
College,  14 

Bleininger,  Prof.  A.  V.,  231 

Bloomington,  struggle  for  loca- 
tion of  University,  31-40;  53 

Bogart,  Prof.  E.  L.,  233,  343 

Boneyard  Creek,  52,  54,  207 

Brayman,  Gen.  Mason,  member 
of  Board,  45,  61,  82 

Breckinridge,  Prof.  L.  P.,  144, 
180,  227,  251 

Bross,  Lieutenant-Governor,  33, 
36 

Brown,  Amos,  19 

Brownlee,  Prof.  James  teaches 
composition  and  elocution, 
108 

Brush,  Capt.  D.  H.,  comman- 
dant of  cadets,  206 

Buchanan,  President  James, 
vetoes  Morrill  bill,  25,  26 

Buck,  Dr.  S.  J.,  342 

Budget,  preparation  of,  217  flF., 
267  S. 

Buel  Institute,  16,  17 

Buildings,  description  of  first 
buildings,  54  ff.,  60 ;  Univer- 
sity Hall  erected,  65,  71,  72; 
Mechanical  Building  and 
Drill  Hall,  65;  Chemical 
Laboratory,  72;  Armory  and 
Natural  History  Building, 
113,  114;  Dormitory  demol- 
ished, 113;  minor  erections 
under    Peabody,     113,     114; 


Natural  History  Building, 
151;  Engineering  Building, 
151,  180;  Observatory,  165; 
President's  House,  160,  166; 
Agricultural  Building,  166, 
177;  Chemistry  Building, 
166;  Gymnasium,  166;  b. 
double  in  number  1904-1916, 
218-220;  Auditorium,  219; 
Physics  Building,  219,  220; 
Natural  History  Building, 
additions  to,  219,  220;  Li- 
brary, 164,  165;  addition  to, 
220;  Lincoln  Hall,  221;  Wo- 
man's Building,  167;  addition 
to,  221,  222;  Transportation 
Building,  222 ;  Law  Building, 
222 ;  Chemistry  Building, 
addition  to,  222;  Commerce 
Building,  221;  Administra- 
tion Building,  222;  Women's 
Residence  Hall,  222,  223; 
Genetics  Building  and  Viva- 
rium, 223;  Ceramics  Build- 
ing, 223;  Smith  Memorial 
Building,  223;  smaller  agri- 
cultural and  horticultural 
buildings,  226;  general  de- 
scription of  campus  and 
plant,  278-287 
BuUard,  George  W.,  151 
BuUard,    S.    A.,    Trustee,    139, 

265 
Bunn,   John    W.,   treasurer   of 

the  Board,  42 
Burchard,  Horatio,   a  Trustee, 

45 
Burnham,  D.  H.,  281 
Burrill  Avenue,  53,  165 
Burrill,     Vice-President      (and 
Dean)    Thomas  J.,  joins  the 
faculty,    58;    collections    for 
museiun,    74;    dean,    76;    in 
charge  of  horticultural  work, 
77-79;    serves    as    acting-Re- 
gent, 141-152;  assists  in  work 
of     college     of     agriculture, 
178  ff.;  other  activities  under 
Draper,    186,    187,    191;    be- 
comes acting-President,  209; 


INDEX 


369 


resigns  deanship  of  graduate 
Bchool,  233;  retirement,  242; 
character  and  services,  273- 
275 

Burroughs,  B.  R.,  172 

Burroughs,  Rev.  John  C,  Presi- 
dent University  of  Chicago, 
44,  54,  61 

Butler,  Prof.  Nathaniel,  125, 
148 


Cahokia  Records,  341,  342 

California,  University  of,  159, 
216,  235 

Campus  development,  278-282 

Cannon,  Hon.  Joseph  G.,  122, 
167 

Carey,  Prof.  Joseph,  75 

Carman,  Prof.  A.  P.,  230 

Carnegie  Foundation,  237,  240, 
242 

Carriel,  Mrs.  Mary  Turner,  16, 
40 

Ceramics  Building,  223 

Ceramics,  department  of,  230, 
231,  340 

Cercle  Frangaig,  206 

Certificate,  graduation  by, 
abandoned,  112 

Champaign  County,  struggle 
for  University,  30-41;  bond 
issue,  54 

Champaign,   see  Twin  Cities 

Champaign  Union  and  Gazette, 
33 

Charleston,  38 

Chemistry  Laboratory  and 
Building,  72,  166,  184,  222, 
231,  286,  287 

Chemistry,  school  or  depart- 
ment of,  59,  61,  107,  183,  189, 
222 

Chicago,  31;  aspirant  for  Uni- 
versity, 31,  33,  36 

Chicago  College  of  Dental  Sur- 
gery, 172 

Chicago  College  of  Pharmacy, 
171 


Chicago  Herald,  on  University, 

199 
Chicago  Inter-Ocean,  115 
Chicago    Tribune,   40,   50,    115, 

215,  349 
Chicago,  University  of, 

founded,    44,   54;    dies,    102; 
becomes     largest     in     State, 
142,   159,  216,   235,  315,  337 
Chicago  World's  Fair,  140,  152 
Choral  Society,  206 
Christian  Association,  122,  127, 
135,  204,  205,  258,  259,  317, 
318 
Churches,  work  of,  at  Univer- 
sity, 259,  260 
Civil  Service,  242 
Clark,     Dean     Thomas    Arkle, 
joins   faculty,    144;    dean   of 
undergraduates,   188  ff.;   231, 
246;  functions  of  office,  309  ff. 
Class  rivalry,  135,  136,  310  flF. 
Clubs,   student,    134,    135,   250, 

251 
Cobb,  Emory,  Trustee,  45,  104 
Coddington,  A.  O.,  118 
Coffman,  Prof.  Lotus  D.,  328 
Cole,  Dr.  Arthur,  343 
Collections,  see  Museums 
College  Government,  91-93;  127, 

128 
Columbia  University,  351 
Commerce  Building,  221,  286 
Commerce,  School  of,  in   1875, 
79,   80;    under  Dean  Kinley, 
184,    221;     college    of    com- 
merce and  business  adminis- 
tration formed,  232  flF.;  short 
course,  246 
Community  Advisor,  345 
Comstock,  Prof.  T.  B.,  108 
Concerts,  257 

Cook  County  Hospital,  169 
Corn      Breeders'      Association, 

196 
Corn  Growers'  Association,  196 
Cornell  University,  83,  216 
Council  of  Administration,  188, 

268,  269 
Council  on  Medical  Education 


370 


INDEX 


of  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation, 237 

Cullom,  Senator,  122 

Cunningham,  Judge  J.  O., 
Trustee,  45,  92 


Daniels,  Mrs.  A.  H.,  261 
Daniels,  Prof.  A.  H.,  144 
Davenport,  Dean  Eugene,  talks 
with  Turner,   27;    joins   fac- 
ulty,   174;    services,    175-179, 
196,  224-227,  243,  266,  331 
Davis,  Judge  David,  286 
Dean  of  Men,  see  Clark,  T.  A. 
Debate,      intercollegiate,      133, 

205,  255,  304,  305 
DeGarmo,  Prof.  Charles,  145 
Delta  Tau  Delta,  91,  95,   128, 

131 
Deneen,   Gov.    Charles   S.,   215, 

216,  238,  338 
Dentistry,   College  of,    169-172, 

239 
Department      of      Agriculture, 

337 
Deutscher  Verein,  205 
Dewsnup,  Prof.  E.  R.,  233 
Dexter,  Prof.  E.  G.,  232,  328 
Dibelka,  State  architect,  282 
Dinwiddle,  Lieut.  W.  A.,  82 
Dittenberger    Library    of    the 

Classics,  235,  289 
Dix,  Dorothea,  24 
Dodge,  Prof.   D.   K.,   144,    185, 

205,  231 
Domestic    Science,    courses    in, 
75,    80,    150,    183,    236,    245, 
293 
Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  24,  27,  44, 

285 
Dramatic  Club,  205 
Draper,  Andrew  Sloan,  becomes 
President,  153;  character, 
154  ff.;  struggle  to  increase 
appropriations  and  building- 
plant,  156-173;  plans  for  the 
college  of  agriculture,  173- 
178;  plans  for  the  college  of 


engineering,  179-181;  eleva- 
tion of  standards  of  instruc- 
tion under,  190-191 ;  rela- 
tions with  Trustees,  194-195; 
as  a  disciplinarian,  200; 
resignation,  208;  advice  to 
James,  212;  jealousy  of 
authority,  263;  as  a  speaker, 
267 

Duncan,  Gov.  Joseph,  7 

Dunlap,  M.  L.,  Trustee,  45; 
attitude  towards  liberal  edu- 
cation, 49  ff. ;  opposition  to 
Gregory,  56  ff. ;  changes  his 
course,  61,  66 

Dunlap,  Senator  Henry  M., 
saves  LTniversity  appropria- 
tions, 193;  assists  appropria- 
tion bills,  160-163;  assists 
passage  of  mill  tax  bill,  217 

Dunne,  Gov.  Edward  F.,  218 


E 


Education  Building,  287 
Education,  school  of,  232,  326- 

329 
Edwards,  Gov.  Ninian,  10 
Eggleston,  Edward,  engaged  as 

lecturer,  60 
Electrical  show,  257,  258 
Engineering  Building,  151,  164, 

284 
Engineering,   college   of,   under 
Gregory,  68,  69,  75-77 ;  under 
Peabody,       107-111;       under 
Draper,    162,    163,    179-181; 
under  James,  224,  227-230 
Engineering    Experiment    Sta- 
tion,   established,    180,    181; 
subsequent     activities,      197, 
227-230,  246,  333-336 
English  Club,  205,  256 
English  Department,  185,  231 
Epler,  Representative,  35,  39 
Equipment,  287-293 
Erb,  Director  John  L.,  236 
Everett,  H.  H.,  203 
Extension,   University,  at  Illi- 
nois,  147-149 


INDEX 


371 


Faculty  life,  86,  87,  106,  107, 
192-194,  272  ff. 

Fairlie,  Prof.  John  A.,  232,  324, 
343,  344 

Farmers,  prominent  in  support 
of  college  of  agriculture,  176 

Farmers'  Hall  of  Fame,  244 

Farm,  experimental,  work 
under  Gregory,  78  ff. 

Farson,  John,  118,  161 

Fawcett,  Dean  Mary,  261 

Fechet,  Edmond  Gustave,  304 

Federal  Bureau  of  Mines,  339 

Federal  funds  for  higher  edu- 
cation, abuse  of,  4-6 

Fish,  Gov.  Hamilton,  20 

Fisher,  Walter  L.,  130 

Flagg,  Willard  C,  Trustee, 
45;  secretary  of  the  Board, 
50;  directs  farm  experi- 
ments, 79 

Flom,  Prof.  G.  T.,  231,  271 

Football,  see  Athletics 

Forbes,  Stephen  A.,  117,  118, 
182,  187,  189,  197;  resigns 
deanship,  230;  273,  276,  277, 
340 

Ford,  Gov.  Thomas,  11 

Fraternities,  struggle  to  estab- 
lish, 96,  128-131,  207,  251; 
place  at  Illinois,  305  ff 

Fuel  Conference,  227,  339 


G 


Galusha,  O.  B.,  Trustee,  45 
Gardner,  G.  E.,  172 
Garner,  Prof.  James,  232 
Gates,  Dean   Fanny  C,  261 
Germanic     languages,     depart- 
ment of,  231 
Giddings,  Representative  Joshua 

Reed,  24 
Gill,  Coach  Harry,  202 
Gladden,  Washington,  153 
Glee    singing    and    glee    club, 

132,  135,  152 
Goebel,  Prof.  Julius,  231,  271 


Going,  Judge  J.  F.,  118,  120 
Goodenough,  Prof.  G.  A.,  335 
Goss,  Dean  W.  F.  M.,  becomes 
dean  of  college  of  engineer- 
ing, 227,  264,  339;  employed 
by    Chicago    Association    of 
Commerce,  343 
Governors'  Letter-Books,  342 
Graduate      school,      instituted, 
146  ff.;  under  Draper,  186  ff.; 
appropriation  for,  216;  under 
James,  233  ff. 
Grain      Dealers'      Association, 

176,  196 
Grant,  Ulysses  S.,  285 
Greeley,  Horace,   19,  20,  22 
Greene,  Prof.  Evarts  B.,  joins 
faculty,     144;     dean    of   col- 
lege  of   literature   and   arts, 
231;     historical     work,     232, 
341-344 
Greenough,  Prof.  C.  N.,  231 
Green  Street,  53 
Gregory,   John   Milton,   elected 
Regent,  43;  character,  43-45; 
struggle  for  a  liberal  curric- 
ulum,     45-51;      travels      in 
Minnesota,   54;    fights   popu- 
lar   prejudice,    54-56;    writes 
University  anthem,  57 ;  mul- 
tifarious activities  as  Regent, 
65  ff. ;   growth   of  University 
under,     65-67 ;      resignation, 
86,  87 ;  lectures  at  University 
under    Draper,     192;    death, 
192;  as  a  speaker,  267 
Gregory  Memorial,  248,  281,  290 
Griggs,   Clark   Robinson,   early 
life     and     personality,     32; 
chosen    legislative   agent   for 
Champaign  County,  32;  tac- 
tics   in    legislative   fight   for 
University,     33-39;     opinion 
of  Gregory,  66 
Griggs  farm,  53 
Griggsville,  14,  15,  17 
Grindley,  Prof.  Harry,  278,  336 
Guild,   Thacher   Howland,   256, 

278 
Gymnasium,  132,  166,  287 


372 


INDEX 


Hall.  Coach  Arthur,  249 

Hammond,  Prof.  M.  B.,  184 

Barker,  Dean  O.  A,,  dean  of 
college  of  law,  172,  173; 
services  and  resignation,  235 

Harvard  University,  202,  241, 
288,  337 

Harvey,  George  A.,  31 

Hatchet  Oration,  321 

Hay,  John,  14 

Hayes,  S.  S.,  Trustee,  45 

Hazing,  200  ff.,  310  ff. 

Hazlitt,  William,  20 

Heath,  W.  A.,  118,  126 

Herndon,  William  H.,  12 

Hieronymus,  R.  E.,  345 

High  School  Conference,  328 

High  schools,  relation  of  Uni- 
versity with,  under  Gregory, 
66,  87,  88;  under  Peabody, 
125  ff.;  under  Draper,  198; 
under  James,  326-329 

Hollister,  H.  A.,  high  school 
visitor,  326 

Holt,  Coach  Edgar,  249 

Home-coming,  annual  fall,  248, 
318 

Homer  Park,  300 

Hoosac  Tunnel  bill,  32 

Hopkins,  Prof.  Cyril  G.,  ap- 
pointed to  experiment  station 
staff,  175;  243 

Horsford,  Representative,  21 

Hottes,  Prof.  Charles  F.,  231 

Household  Science,  see  Domes- 
tic Science 

Huff,  Coach  George,  as  student, 
136;  returns  from  Dart- 
mouth, 202;  services,  202, 
250,  299 

Hunt,  Gov.  Worthington,  20 

Hurlbut,  General,  36,  57 


mini,  94  ff.,  133,  134,  139,  142, 
151,  204,  206  ff.,  250,  253  ff., 
297,  301  ff. 


Illinois       Agriculturist,       256, 

297  ff.,  303 
Illinois     Canners'     Association, 

340 
Illinois  Central  Railway,  31,  37, 

38,  181 
Illinois  College,  12,  13,  37 
Illinois  Dairymen's  Association, 

196 
Illinois    Historical    Collections, 

342 
Illinois  Historical  Survey,  234, 

342,  343 
Illinois  Industrial  University, 
location,  30  ff. ;  opening, 
57  ff.;  early  faculty,  59,  60; 
prejudices  against,  54  ff., 
61  ff.;  early  attendance, 
67  ff. ;  finances  under  Greg- 
ory, 83-86;  entrance  require- 
ments, 87,  88;  student  life, 
90 ff.;  finances  under  Pea- 
body,  101-105;  curriculum 
under  Peabody,  105-110;  di- 
plomas awarded,  112;  build- 
ing under  Peabody,  113-115; 
change  of  name,  120,  121 ;  see 
Illinois,  University  of 
Illinois  Magazine,  255,  302 
Illinois-Michigan  Canal,  39 
Illinois  Pharmaceutical  Asso- 
ciation, 171 
Illinois  School  of  Dentistry,  171 
Illinois  Union,  251,  252 
Illinois,  University  of,  receives 
name,  120,  121;  relations  to 
State  under  Peabody,  115- 
122;  Trustees  become  elec- 
tive, 121,  122;  religious  prej- 
udice abates,  122,  123;  stu- 
dent life  under  Peabody, 
123  ff.;  growth  under  Burrill, 
141-151;  finances  under  Dra- 
per, 158-163;  registration  un- 
der Draper,  163,  164;  growth 
in  facilities,  164-167;  new 
colleges  and  schools,  167-173; 
student  life  under  Draper, 
200-208;  finances  under 
James,  212-218;  building  un- 


INDEX 


373 


der  James,  218-223;  attend- 
ance under  James,  223,  224; 
instructional  development  un- 
der James,  224  flf. ;  student 
life  under  James,  248  flf. ;  see 
also  Chapter  Headings 
Indiana      Seminary       (College, 

University),  2,  9,  101,  147 
Industrial    League    of    Illinois, 

18,  22,  23,  28flr. 
Industrial  universities   for  the 

people,  23 
Ingersoll,  Robert  G.,  36,  39 
International  Railway  Fuel  As- 
sociation, 336 
Interscholastic  circus,  257,  258, 

320 
Interscholastic  week,  320 
Iowa,  University  of,  43,  101 
Italy,    agricultural    schools    in, 
21 


Jacksonville,  13,  14,  18;  aspir- 
ant for  University,  30-40; 
bitterness,  40,  53 
Jacksonville  Journal,  50 
James,  Edmund  Janes,  147; 
first  offered  presidency,  153; 
made  President,  209  flf;  char- 
acter and  training,  210  flf.;  fi- 
nancial history  of  University 
under,  212-218;  building  un- 
der, 218-223;  growth  of  col- 
leges under,  224-239;  gradu- 
ate school  and  library  under, 
233-235;  professional  schools 
under,  235-239;  University 
policies,  241  flf. ;  relations  of 
University  to  State  under, 
243-248;  student  life  under, 
248-260;  relations  with  Trus- 
tees, 264  flf. ;  encourages 
scholarship,  316;  declines  to 
run  for  Governor,  349 
Jayne,  Violet  D.,  becomes  dean 

of  women,  189;  resigns,  261 
Jennings,  Gov.  Jonathan,  9 
Jones,  Prof.  H.  S.  V.,  271 


Jones,  Walter  Howe,  168 

Journal  of  American  Chemical 
Society,  271 

Journal  of  Educational  Psy- 
chology, 271 

Journal  of  English  and  Ger- 
manic Philology,  233,  271 

Junior  Exhibition,  133 

Junior  Prom,  first,  152 


Kalamazoo  College,  Gregory  at, 
43,  44 

Kansas,  University  of,  216 

Kappa  Sigma,  131 

Karsten,  Prof.  Gustav  E.,  231, 
234 

Kaskaskia  Records,  342 

Keith,  Elbridge  G.,  elected 
treasurer,  161 

Kentucky,  University  of,  90, 
348 

Kiler,  Charles  A.,  138 

Kinley,  Vice-President  ( and 
Dean)  David,  joins  faculty, 
144;  dean  of  college  of  litera- 
ture and  arts,  182;  heads 
courses  in  business,  184,  221, 
232  flf. ;  dean  of  graduate 
school,  233  flf.;  quoted,  324, 
325 

Knox  College,  7,  12,  19,  29 

Koerner,  Gustavus,  289 

Kollock,  Dean  Lily  G.,  261 

Kyle,  Martha  J.,  acting  dean  of 
women,  261 


Laboratories,  general  descrip- 
tion of,  292  flf. 

Lackey,  Robert,  132 

Lands,  of  University,  36,  54,  83, 
104 

Law,  school  and  college  of,  167, 
172,  173,  235 

Lee,  President,  assists  passage 
of  Hatch  Act,  105 

Leland  Hotel,  25 


374 


INDEX 


Leland  Stanford,  Jr.,  Univer- 
sity, 234 

Liberal  arts  and  sciences,  col- 
lege of,  229-233,  341  ff. 

Library  (building),  164,  165, 
284 

Library  School,  167  ff.,  235,  288, 
289 

Library,  under  Gregory,  73  ff. ; 
under  Peabody,  114  If.;  un- 
der Burrill,  151;  under  Dra- 
per, 168  ff.;  under  James, 
234  ff. ;  general  description, 
288  ff. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  27,  285 

Lincoln,  aspirant  for  Univer- 
sity, 31,  35,  36,  39,  40 

Lincoln  Hall,  231,  232,  285,  290 

Lincoln,  ox-yoke,  285 

Lindgren,  Justa  M.,  249 

Literature  and  arts,  college  of, 
under  Draper,  181-186;  under 
James,  231-233 

Literature  and  science,  college 
of,  under  Gregory,  68,  75,  76; 
under  Peabody,  107-109 

Live  Stock  Breeders'  Associa- 
tion,  176,   196,  227 

Llewellyn,   J.   C.,   166 

Locomotive  Testing  Laboratory, 
335 

Logan,  Gen.  John  A.,  285 

Lovejoy,  Owen,  16,  27,  285 

Lowenthal,  Fred,  249 

Lundy,   Benjamin,    16 

Lyon,  Caleb,  24 

M 

Maine  Wesleyan  Seminary,  19 
Mann,     James     E.,     93,     118, 

121 
Mask  and  Bauble,  256 
Massachusetts    Board   of   Agri- 
culture, 20 
Mathews  Avenue,  166 
Mathews,  Coach,  249 
Mathews,  Prof.  J.  M.,  343 
May  Festival,  257 
Maypole  Dance,  258,  320 


Mcintosh,  Prof.  Donald,  278 
McKay,    Trustee    Francis    M., 

118,  139 
McKendree  College,  7,  12,  19 
McKenzie,  Prof.  Kenneth,  231 
McKinley,  Representative   Wil- 
liam B.,  258,  259 
McLean,     Trustee      Alexander, 

194,  263 
McMurry,  Prof.  Frank  M.,  149, 

328 
Medicine,  college  of,  under  Dra- 
per,   167-172;    under    James, 
236-240 
Medill,  Joseph,  286 
Menard,  Gov.  Ir^ierre,  342 
Miami  College,  9 
Michigan  Journal  of  Education, 

43 
Michigan,   University   of,   2,   3, 

8,  9,  159,  203,  204,  238,  296 
Miles,  Prof.  Manly,  67,  78. 
Military  Drill,  81-83,  136,  137, 

303,  304 
Miller,  Grant  C,  165 
Miller,  W.  G.,  137-139 
Mill  tax  law,  213-217 
Mine  Rescue  Station,   229 
Miners'   and   Mechanics'    Insti- 
tutes, 228,  246,  270,  340,  341 
Mining  engineering,  courses  in, 
109,   110,   145,  146,  228,  229, 
340 
Minnesota,  University  of,  3,  9, 

111,    159,   203,   204,   238 
Missouri,  University  of,  3,  9, 159 
Monmouth  County  Fair,  47 
Moot   Court,    founded,    172 
Morgan  County  Journal,  18 
Morrill,  Justin,  12,  26-29 
Morrill  Land  Grant  Act,  12,  24, 

26,   28,   29,   46,   55 
Morrill      Supplementary     Act, 

105,  144,  145 
Morrow,  Dean  George  E.,  head 
of  college  of  agriculture,  76, 
78;  under  Peabody,  111,  112, 
117;  helps  organize  agricul- 
tural experiment  station,  123, 
124;  resigns,  173 


INDEX 


375 


Moss,  Prof.  Charles  M.,  108, 
147 

Museum,  Natural  History,  73, 
74,  291,  292 

Museum  of  Classical  Archae- 
ology and  Art,  291 

Museum  of  European  Culture, 
290,  291 

Museums,  see  also  Scientific 
Collections 

Music,  school  of,  167,  168,  236 


N 


National     Education     Associa- 
tion, 116 
Nebraska   Alumni    Association, 

126 
Nebraska,  land  in,  54,   104 
Neely,  Judge   Charles   G.,    122, 

172 
Newell,  Prof.  F.  H.,  230 
New  Orleans  Cotton  Exposition, 

116 
New   York   Horticulturist,    20, 

22 
New  York  Tribune,  22,  23 
Normal  University,  State,  6,  37 
North    Central    Association    of 

Schools  and  Colleges,  327 
North,  Foster,  122,  123 
Northwestern    University,    102, 

132,  203,  216,  235,  287 
Nott,  Eliphalet,  43 
Noyes,  Prof.   W.  A.,  231,  270, 

271 
Nutrition,  experimenta  in,  336- 

338 


Oberlin  College,  19 

Oglesby,  Gov.  Richard,  33,  35, 

39,  121,  285 
Ohio,  early  higher  education  in, 

2,  9 
Ohio  State  University,  101,  159, 

216 
Oklahoma,  University  of,  348 
Olmstead  Brothers,  280 


Oneida  Institute,  19 

Opera  Club,  206 

Oratory,     intercollegiate,     133, 

134,  205,  255,  304,  305 
Ordinance  of  1787,  2 


Palmer,  Gov.,  John  M.,  16,  55, 

286 

Palmer,  Prof.  Arthur  W.,  183, 
184 

Parr,  Prof.  Samuel  W.,  270, 
277,  288,  336 

Parsons,  Fernando,  79,  80 

Paul,  Prof.  Harry  G.,  328 

Peabody,  Selim  Hobart,  elected 
Regent,  99;  character,  99, 
100;  Ulniversity  finances  un- 
der, 101-105;  instructional 
plans,  109;  curriculum  under, 
105-110;  registration  under, 
110,  111;  advocates  change 
of  University  name  and  op- 
poses alteration  in  method  of 
choosing  Trustees,  118-122; 
advertises  University,  115, 
116;  opposition  to  fraterni- 
ties, 128-131;  difficulties  with 
students,  135-140;  resigna- 
tion, 140;  as  a  speaker,  267 

Pease,  Dr.  T.  C,  342 

Pekin,  34 

Pellagra  Commission,  338 

Pennsylvania,  University  of, 
202,  216 

People's  College,  19,  22 

Peoria,  32,  33 

Pharmacy,  School  of,  171,  240 

Phi  Beta  Kappa,  251,  321 

Phi  Gamma  Delta,   128 

Philadelphia  North  American, 
22 

Phosphate  stock  affair,  243 

Physicians  and  Surgeons,  Col- 
lege of,  236  ff. ;  see  also  Medi- 
cine, school  and  college  of 

Physics,  Building,  220,  230, 
285;  equipment  of,  292 

Physics,  department  of,  230 


376 


INDEX 


Pickard,  J.  L.,  43 

Pierce,  President  Franklin,  24 

Pillsbury,  Registrar  W.  L.,  242, 

273,  275 
Pinckney,  Daniel,  43 
Pope,  Representative  Nathaniel, 

5 
Post-Exam  Jubilee,  258,  319 
Powell,  Major  J.  W.,  59,  74 
Practice  teaching,  328 
Prairie  Partner,  17,  116 
Preparatory     Department,     87, 

88,  124,  125,  152,  198,  240 
Presidency,   relation   to  Board, 

262-265;  to  faculty,  265-269 
President's  House,  160,  166,  273 
Princeton  College,  129;  Univer- 
sity, 202 
Pritchett,  President  Henry   S., 

348 
Psychological  Index,  271 
Publications  edited  by  faculty, 

271    272 
Purdue    University,    132,    202, 

204 


Quick,  Trustee  Thomas  M.,  nom- 
inates Gregory,  44 
Quine,  Dean  William  E.,  237 


R 


Railway  Engineering  and  Ad- 
ministration, School  of,  228 

Registration,  58,  60,  68  fT.,  110, 
142,  163  ff.,  223  ff. 

Remsen,  President  Ira,  211 

Rensselaer  Polytechnic  Insti- 
tute, 19 

Research  work,  270  ff. 

Richards,  Prof.  Charles  Russ, 
230 

Ricker,  Dean  Nathan  Clifford, 
I'oins  facultv,  '/6;  services, 
106,  108,  165,  191;  resigns 
deanship,  227;  long  service, 
276 

Robinson,    Dean    Stillman    W., 


joins    faculty,    75;    becomes 

dean,  75;  opens  shop  courses, 

75,  76,  77;  resigns,  85 
Robinson,  Prof.  Maurice,  232 
Rolfe,   Prof.   Charles   W.,   125; 

long  service,  273,  277 
Romance  languages,  231 
Rose  Polytechnic  Institute,  76, 

106 
Ross,  Prof.  E.  A.,  348 
Royal   Commission  of   1850  on 

the  English  Universities,  49 
Russia,  agricultural  schools  in, 

21 
Rutherford,  lecturer  for  lUinoia 

Industrial  League,  24 


St.   Clair  County,  341 

Salaries  of  faculty,  under  Greg- 
ory, 85-87;  under  Peabody, 
106;  under  Burrill,  143;  un- 
der Draper,  191;  under 
James,  240,  241 

Saturnian,  134 

Scandinavian  languages  and  lit- 
erature, 231 

Scholarship,  313-315 

Science,  College  of,  under  Greg- 
ory (natural  science),  75; 
under  Peabody,  107,  108;  un- 
der Draper,  182-184;  under 
James,  230,  231 ;  junction 
with  literature  and  arts,  232, 
266 

Seientifie  collections,  291  ff. 

Scott,  Dean  James  Brown,  173 

Scott,  Prof.  Frank  W.,  247,  342 

Scovell,  Mrs.  M.  S.,  preceptress, 
110 

Scovell,  Prof.  M.  S.,  116,  117 

Senate,  188,  268,  269 

Senior  Class  Day,  133 

Senior  societies,  252,  253 

Sharp,  Katharine  L.,  168 

Shattuek,  Lieut.-Col.  Samuel 
Walker,  59,  82,  106,  191;  re- 
tires, 242;  long  service,  273, 
275 


INDEX 


377 


Shawhan,  Trustee  G€orge  R., 
139 

Sherman,  Prof.  Stuart  P.,  231, 
348,  355 

Sigma  Chi,  128-131 

Sigma  Xi,  251,  321 

Siren,  The,  256,  302 

Smith-Lever  Act,  333 

Snyder,  Dean  Edward,  59,  75, 
i06,  108;  long  service,  278 

Sophograph,  133,  134 

Sororities,  131,  308,  317 

Spalding,  Treasurer  Charles  W., 
160-162 

Stagg,  Alonzo,  202 

Stahl,  Coach  Garland 
("Jake"),   202 

Star  Lecture  Course,  134,  256 

State  Agricultural  and  Horti- 
cultural Societies,  26,  29,  57 

State  Board  of  Agriculture,  22, 
173 

State  Chemical  Water  Survey, 
184,  245,  270,  339 

State  Dairymen's  Association, 
196 

State  Entomologist's  Oflfice,  117, 
118,  269,  338 

State  Farmers'  Institute,  176, 
196,  198 

State  Geological  Survey,  197, 
245,  270,  339 

State  Historical  Library,  231, 
341,  342 

State  Horticultural  Society, 
176,  196 

State  Laboratory  of  Natural 
History,  117,  118,  124,  270, 
339,  340 

State  library  school,  see  Li- 
brary School 

State  Medical  Association,  239 

State  Oratorical  Association, 
205 

State,  relations  with,  under 
Gregory,  54,  61  ff.;  under 
Peabody,  121-125;  under  Bur- 
rill,  147-149;  under  Draper, 
194-200;  under  James,  243  ff., 
263  flF.,  323-346 


Stoek,  Prof.  H.  H.,  228 

Strong,  President,  211 

Student  life,  under  Gregory,  90- 
96;  under  Peabody,  127-140; 
under  Draper,  200-208;  un- 
der James,  248-260;  general 
description,  295-322 

Stunt  show,  320 

Summer  school,  149,  186,  187, 
246,  247 


Tacoma  Alumni  Association, 
126 

Taft,  Lorado,  75,  219 

Taft,  Prof.  Don  Carlos,  75,  106 

Talbot,  Prof.  Arthur  Newell, 
145,  277 

Tanner,  Gov.  John,  162,  173 

Tappan,  Henry,   14 

Tau  Beta  Pi,  251 

Teachers'  Institutes,  14 

Technograph,  135,  207,  256, 
297,  302 

"  Ten  Tautological  Tautogs," 
129,  130 

Thompson,  Dr.  C.  M.,  342 

Tincher,  State  Senator,  39 

Tompkins,  Prof.  Arnold,  181, 
186 

Townsend,  Dean  Edgar  Jerome, 
144,  230 

Transportation  Building,  222, 
286 

Trelease,  Prof.  William,  231 

Trumbull,  Senator  Lyman,  16, 
25,  285 

Trustees,  Board  of,  constituted, 
42;  change  in  method  of 
choosing,  121,  122;  functions 
of,  262  flF. 

Turner,  Jonathan  Baldwin, 
early  life,  12,  13;  ideas  on 
education,  14;  at  Buel  In- 
stitute, 16,  17;  campaign  for 
industrial  education  and  a 
Federal  land  grant  therefor. 
17-29;  part  in  establishing 
and  locating  University,  30- 


378 


INDEX 


40;  attitude  towards  liberal 
studies.  46-48 ;  at  dedication 
of  University  Hall,  71;  death, 
192 
Twin  Cities,  30,  31;  at  opening 
of  University,  51  ff.;  attitude 
towards  University,  53,  54; 
extension  teaching  in,  148 


U 


Undergraduates,  deanship  of,  es- 
tablished, 188-189 
Union  Stock  Yards,  227 
University  Club,  193,  273 
University  Hall,  65,  71,  72,  283, 

284 
University    studies,    207,     234, 

271 
Urbana   and   Champaign   Insti- 
tute chartered,  30 


Vandalia,  7 

Van    Hise,    President    Charles, 

348 
Van  Osdel,  Trustee  John  M.,  45 
Varsity  Fortnightly,  207 
Veterinary     College,     proposals 

for,  fai"l,   227 
Vincent,  President,  348 

W 

Wade,  Senator  Benjamin  F.,  27 
Ward,  Prof.  H.   B.,  231,  269 
Washburne,    Senator   Elihu   B., 

23,  25,  27 
Washington     University,      132, 

337 
Washington,  University  of,  216 
Webb,  Prof.   J.  Burkitt,   75 
Weber,    Prof.    Henry    A.,    106, 

116,  117 
Weeks,  Prof.  Raymond  B,,  231 
Wells,  Prof.  N.  A.,  165,  192 
Western  College  League,  132 
Western  Rural,  121 


Weston,  Dean  Nathan  A.,  184, 
233 

West  Point,  202 

West  Side  Hospital,  Chicago, 
169 

White,  Prof.  James  M.,  joins 
faculty,  144;  offers  library 
plans,  165;  as  acting  dean, 
227;  on  campus  commission, 
281;  University  architect, 
282 

Wild,  George  A.,  74 

Wilder,  Marshall  P.,  20 

Willets,  President,  assists  in 
passing  Hatch  Act,  105 

Windsor,  Librarian  P.  L.,  235 

Wisconsin,  University  of,  3,  102, 
111,  149,  159,  203,  216,  235, 
238,   296.   314 

Woman's  Building,  167,  221, 
222 ;  service  to  household  sci- 
ence, 236,  261 

Woman's  League,  190 

W^omen,  admitted,  68;  hous- 
ing, 72;  increased  interest  in, 
149-151;  under  Draper,  163, 
167,  190;  under  James,  259- 
261,  307-313  passim 

Women,  deanship  of,  created, 
188-190 

Women's  Residence  Hall,  222, 
223 

Wright,  Gov.  J.  A.,  24 

Wright,  John  S.,  8 

Wright  Street,  52,  166 


Yale  University,  202,  288,  337 
Yates,    Gov.    Richard,    Sr.,    12, 

24.  25,  285 
Yoxan,  252 


Zeitlin,  Prof.  Jacob,  231 
Zimmerman,     State     architect, 

281,   282 
Zuppke,  Coach  Robert,  249 


•v 


UCLA-Young  Research   LiDrary 

LD2378   .N41 

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L  009   572   874  7 


yC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


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